The MPS medical plan

An article in the Journal Sentinel last week described recent changes in the MPS, medical plan. With the regular insurance plan, employees are now required to make copayments. It is hoped that this will encourage some of the employees to switch to the lower cost HMO plan.

Not surprisingly, this change has been met with complaints from MPS teachers. It is probably not a coincidence that another article reports that teachers have given the superintendent a low rating.

For anyone enrolled in a private-sector plan, however, the striking thing about the MPS plan is how lavish it still is. Apparently teachers and other employees are still not required to make any contribution to the cost of the plan. Thus, except for the co-pays, there is no incentive to move to a lower cost plan. This contrasts to the approach taken by the city of Milwaukee several years ago in which employees were offered an array of plans with the city covering the full cost of the lowest cost plan and the employee making up the difference with higher cost plans.