Together with my colleagues in the Arlington delegation, I will be meeting with the Arlington Budget and Revenue Task Force this evening.
I will be sharing a few slides about how Arlington compares to other communities. Arlington has lost aid because it used to receive a lot of aid from the Additional Assistance program, which has been phased out. It still does well based on income and wealth measures as compared to other communities. Click here for Powerpoint format or click here for pdf format. For the underlying spreadsheet of comparative local aid data for all 351 communities, click here.
Click here for the main handout prepared by the Arlington town administration and here for an additional spreadsheet that the administration prepared.
During the discussion last night, all of Arlington’s legislators indicated support for making it easier for municipalities to move into the GIC or plans like the GIC.
There were questions raised about the deductibles for health plans under the GIC. One of the nice things about the GIC is that it offers a number of different health plans. See this page with links to the terms of each of the health plans offered. For an explanation of the deductible rules applicable to all plans, click here. There is a $250 per person deductible with a family maximum of $750. There is an additional $400 deductible per person deductible if you go out of network and that is capped at a family maximum of $800.
There are copays required for many services. The level of the copays depend on the plan. In the plan that I use, Harvard Pilgrim, hospitalization copays range from $250 to $750 (depending on the hospital tier) and are waived on a readmission within 30 days and capped at 4 per year. For the few people with serious repetitive health care needs, these charges could add up.
Another question that was raised was about alternative wealth rankings. Some wondered whether the combined wealth/income index used in the presentation made Arlington look relatively wealthier than an income-only measure would. Actually, by any standard income measure, Arlington ranks higher than by the combined indicator. Click here for a spreadsheet showing alternative wealth measures.
A measure of developable land could put Arlington lower, but such a measure is hard to frame because it depends on local choices about development policy.
Click here for a detailed presentation on alternative health care plan options forwarded by Arlington Selectman Diane Mahon. The presentation was prepared by health care consultants for the Massachusetts Teachers Association.