Sweeney plan calls for merging school employee, state worker health plans

Daniel J. Munoz reports for NJBIZ


One of New Jersey’s top Democratic elected officials is pushing for a proposal that would merge school employees’ health plans with the less costly state worker health plan, as costs for health care for public workers rise year over year.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney speaks at the  Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association conference in Monroe on March 29.2019.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, said the proposal to merge the plans – called the School Employee Health Benefits Plan and the State Health Benefits Plan – would save the state roughly $300 million a year.
The legislation, according to a Senate aide, is being drafted and will likely be released in April as part of a package of recommendations from a workgroup convened by Sweeney which released the “Path to Progress” report in August, outlining how to lower the state’s pension and health care obligations.
Currently, 61,000 school employees and 107,000 retirees are enrolled in the School Employees Health Benefits Program, which combined with their beneficiaries, totals about 270,000 enrollees, the aide said.
The proposed SEHBP-State Health Benefits Program plan would save teachers roughly $60 million and another $240 million for the school districts, the aide said.
Many of those districts lost school funding because of changes to the school funding formula approved last year as part of the 2019 budget, and the savings could more than make up for that lost money.
“There’s no excuse for teachers and taxpayers to be paying $37,905 for a family plan under the SEHBP when state workers and taxpayers are saving money and getting superb coverage for just $27,2690 under the new SHBP,” Sweeney said in his prepared remarks Friday at the Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association conference Friday morning in Monroe.
“It’s everyone’s benefit,” Sweeney added. “We’re dealing with some things that have to be addressed. We can’t ignore them anymore. It’s to the point where if we don’t address these problems, it’s going to become unfixable.”
Sweeney said he would back off of his proposal to have school health plan retirees pay for their health care as a percentage of their salaries.

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New York State on the verge of banning plastic bags

  report for New York Post

It’s in the bag.
Albany lawmakers have struck a deal to outlaw plastic bags statewide and charge a 5-cent fee on paper ones, legislators said on Thursday.
Legislators were hashing out the details, but the agreement was expected to be enshrined in the state budget, which lawmakers aim to pass by April 1.
The measure would likely take effect next year to give stores time to prepare, said Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D–LI), a sponsor of the plan.
In its current form, the proposal bars retailers from handing out plastic bags but does not outlaw newspaper-delivery bags, dry-cleaner garment bags or the kind of baggies dog-owners use to clean up after their pooches.
Cities and counties can opt into the paper-bag fee. If they do, they would take 40 percent of the revenues, while the remaining 60 percent would got to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.
Localities must use the revenue to offset the impact on low-income communities by disseminating reusable bags, Albany officials said, adding that food-stamp recipients would be exempt from the fee.
Reactions from shoppers were a mixed bag.
“I have two thoughts: It’s obviously environmentally sound. And it’s just another tax. This money will just go to the economic black hole. Next thing, there will be a tax on breathing,” Shane McAteer, 54, groused as he lugged an armful of plastic bags out of a Key Foods on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside Thursday.
Another shopper, who gave her name as Esther and said she was 100 years old, gasped at the plan.
“They better not!” she said as she hauled two double-bagged plastic bags out of an Upper East Side Gristedes. “I know [plastic bags are] a problem, but we have to worry about the present as well as the future.”
New York Association of Convenience Stores President Jim Calvin said, “If someone needs ice but there’s no plastic bags offered, either they’re going to drip all the home, or they will skip that purchase.”
Others cheered the plan.
“I’m from Poland. In my country, they charge me like $1 per plastic bag. Now everybody uses the reusable bags. Its a very good idea,” said Gristedes shopper Anna Sufflo, 44.
Seattle imposed a similar measure in 2011, and the volume of plastic bags in the waste stream fell 78 percent, a city report said.
Mayor de Blasio sought a plastic-bag ban in 2017 but was stymied by a Republican-controlled state Legislature. His office was reserving judgment on the latest effort.
“We’ll take a close look at whatever the final details are. I’ll decline to comment beyond that,” said mayoral spokesman Eric Phillips.

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Sweeney plan calls for merging school employee, state worker health plans

Daniel J. Munoz reports for NJBIZ

One of New Jersey’s top Democratic elected officials is pushing for a proposal that would merge school employees’ health plans with the less costly state worker health plan, as costs for health care for public workers rise year over year.


Senate President Stephen Sweeney speaks at the the Jersey
Principals and Supervisors Association conference in Monroe on March 29.2019.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, said the proposal to merge the plans – called the School Employee Health Benefits Plan and the State Health Benefits Plan – would save the state roughly $300 million a year.

The legislation, according to a Senate aide, is being drafted and will likely be released in April as part of a package of recommendations from a workgroup convened by Sweeney which released the “Path to Progress” report in August, outlining how to lower the state’s pension and health care obligations.

Currently 61,000 school employees and 107,000 retirees are enrolled in the School Employees Health Benefits Program, which combined with their beneficiaries, totals about 270,000 enrollees, the aide said.

The proposed SEHBP-State Health Benefits Program plan would save teachers roughly $60 million and another $240 million for the school districts, the aide said.

Many of those districts lost school funding because of changes to the school funding formula approved last year as part of the 2019 budget, and the savings could more than make up for that lost money.

“There’s no excuse for teachers and taxpayers to be paying $37,905 for a family plan under the SEHBP when state workers and taxpayers are saving money and getting superb coverage for just $27,2690 under the new SHBP,” Sweeney said in his prepared remarks Friday at the Jersey Principals and Supervisors Associationconference Friday morning in Monroe.

“It’s everyone’s benefit,” Sweeney added. “We’re dealing with some things that have to be addressed. We can’t ignore them anymore. It’s to the point where if we don’t address these problems, it’s going to become unfixable.”

Sweeney said he would back off of his proposal to have school health plan retirees pay for their health care as a percentage of their salaries.

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New York DEC collects 320 pounds of unused and expired pharmaceutical drugs from Long Island health facilities

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) collected 320 pounds of pharmaceutical medications during DEC’s annual Long Island Pharmaceutical Take Back event, Region 1 Director Carrie Meek Gallagher announced today.

A total of 27 long-term healthcare facilities from Nassau and Suffolk counties participated in the program, which collects and responsibly destroys unused or expired pharmaceuticals. More than two tons of pharmaceuticals have been collected since the program began in 2014.

“Health care facilities like nursing homes and other long-term care facilities sometimes resort to flushing unused medications,” said Director Gallagher. “DEC will continue our efforts to prevent unused and expired medications from entering our waterways and we are grateful to all of the facilities that chose to participate in this year’s take-back day.”

The DEC program is in its fifth year and is designed to reduce the number of pharmaceuticals that are flushed or unsafely disposed by facilities and can end
 up in Long Island’s groundwater, bays, and estuaries. Pharmaceuticals have been detected at low levels in New York waterways and Long Island’s shallow groundwater.

Twenty-seven facilities made up primarily of nursing, extended care, and rehabilitation centers, participated in this year’s collection. Each facility stored unused and expired medications until DEC Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) visited on Wednesday, March 27, in Suffolk County, and Thursday, March 28, in Nassau County. The stored medications were brought to the Covanta Waste-to-Energy Plant in Huntington, which volunteered its services to incinerate the products.

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“Covanta is proud to provide the safe disposal of drugs which assists in the prevention of drug abuse and in the protection of water on Long Island,” said |
Paul Stauder, president, Covanta Environmental Solutions.

“The work the Department of Environmental Conversation is spearheading throughout the state is critical to ending the practice of flushing drugs by residents and institutions. By destroying medication at our Energy-from-Waste facilities, the state is also ensuring the secure destruction of these drugs in an environmentally sound manner.”

In addition to collection events, DEC encourages New Yorkers to use medication collection box locations, which can be found by visiting DEC’s website and clicking on the NYS Medication Drop Box Locations map.

DEC launched its Pilot Pharmaceutical Take Back program in May 2018, and installed 250 medication collection boxes at retail pharmacies, hospitals, and long-term care facilities all across New York State.

Since May 2018, DEC has collected and destroyed 15,229 lbs. of unwanted medications through the pilot program. DEC plans to install an additional 230 medication collection boxes under Phase 2 of the pilot program.

Prior to these initiatives, many facilities flushed unwanted or waste drugs. With technological advances in analytical techniques, it is now possible to detect very low levels of drugs in surface water and groundwater.

 Some drugs pass largely unaltered through wastewater treatment plants and enter rivers and other waterways. Flushed medications have been found in New York lakes, rivers, and streams, which can negatively affect the waterways.

A nationwide study conducted by the United States Geological Survey found low levels of drugs such as antibiotics, hormones, contraceptives, and steroids in 80 percent of rivers and streams tested.

Medications adversely affect fish and other aquatic wildlife and increase the development of drug-resistant bacteria.


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New York State on the verge of banning plastic bags

Bernadette Hogan and Max Jaeger  report for New York Post

It’s in the bag.

Albany lawmakers have struck a deal to outlaw plastic bags statewide and charge a 5-cent fee on paper ones, legislators said on Thursday.

Legislators were hashing out the details, but the agreement was expected to be enshrined in the state budget, which lawmakers aim to pass by April 1.

The measure would likely take effect next year to give stores time to prepare, said Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D–LI), a sponsor of the plan.In its current form, the proposal bars retailers from handing out plastic bags but does not outlaw newspaper-delivery bags, dry-cleaner garment bags or the kind of baggies dog-owners use to clean up after their pooches.

Cities and counties can opt into the paper-bag fee. If they do, they would take 40 percent of the revenues, while the remaining 60 percent would got to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.

Localities must use the revenue to offset the impact on low-income communities by disseminating reusable bags, Albany officials said, adding that food-stamp recipients would be exempt from the fee.

Reactions from shoppers were a mixed bag.“I have two thoughts: It’s obviously environmentally sound. And it’s just another tax. This money will just go to the economic black hole. Next thing, there will be a tax on breathing,” Shane McAteer, 54, groused as he lugged an armful of plastic bags out of a Key Foods on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside Thursday.

Another shopper, who gave her name as Esther and said she was 100 years old, gasped at the plan.“They better not!” she said as she hauled two double-bagged plastic bags out of an Upper East Side Gristedes. “I know [plastic bags are] a problem, but we have to worry about the present as well as the future.”

New York Association of Convenience Stores President Jim Calvin said, “If someone needs ice but there’s no plastic bags offered, either they’re going to drip all the home, or they will skip that purchase.

”Others cheered the plan.“

I’m from Poland. In my country, they charge me like $1 per plastic bag. Now everybody uses the reusable bags. “It’s a very good idea,” said Gristedes shopper Anna Sufflo, 44.

Seattle imposed a similar measure in 2011, and the volume of plastic bags in the waste stream fell 78 percent, a city report said.

Mayor de Blasio sought a plastic-bag ban in 2017 but was stymied by a Republican-controlled state Legislature. His office was reserving judgment on the latest effort.

“We’ll take a close look at whatever the final details are. I’ll decline to comment beyond that,” said mayoral spokesman Eric Phillips.

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