Pima Again Considers Not Hiring Any Smokers

Source from:  tucson.com 02/16/2015

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry is again moving forward on his request that the Board of Supervisors make tobacco users ineligible for employment.

But at least two board members still have problems with the plan, which will be presented on Tuesday.

In a related issue, the board will also consider revisions to the employee insurance program, including a proposed 141 percent rate hike - as much as $4,982 a year - for those enrolled in one family plan.

The smoking ban, which has been in the works since last summer, had been scheduled for consideration in December, but it was put on hold while some insurance issues and alternatives were studied.

"It sets up a lot of inequities and violations of employee rights," Supervisor Richard Elías said of the smoker hiring ban.

Supervisor Ally Miller also has concerns with the no-smoking plan. "I envision lots of lawsuits," Miller said.

The proposal would require all applicants for county jobs beginning, in July, to certify they have been nicotine-free for at least 12 months. If they can't, they would not be eligible for hire.

Existing employees would not be affected by the hiring policy, but if enrolled in the county's self-insurance program would face a 30 percent premium surcharge.

For a single employee in the most popular insurance plan, that would equal $163 in surcharges per year.

The surcharge would increase each subsequent year if an employee continues to use tobacco, to 40 percent the second year and 50 percent in the third.

Non-tobacco-using employees would be eligible for a "healthy lifestyle premium discount" of $5 per pay period.

The county has 1,654 employees who smoke in a workforce of 7,200 workers, according to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. The county offers a tobacco-cessation program and will continue to do so even if the policy recommendations are accepted.

If the no-tobacco policy were enacted, department supervisors would be allowed to require employees to submit to nicotine testing if they suspect an employee uses legal tobacco products.

Continued tobacco use during employment with Pima County would be grounds for termination or disciplinary actions.

Both Elías and Miller said excluding tobacco users from county employment appears discriminatory.

"It's getting into a very slippery slope in my opinion," Miller said, noting many people may engage in high-risk but legal activities. "How do we have the right to tell people what they can do on Saturdays?"

Elías agreed the policy proposal appeared to be reaching too far into employees' personal lives.

"It's illegal in 29 states to do what Chuck Huckelberry's proposing," he said.

Huckelberry said that's not the case here. "A smoker is not a protected class in Arizona," he said.

County officials estimate tobacco use among employees has resulted in more than $13.4 million in annual costs.

Huckelberry said the county has saved more than $5.5 million since the transition to a self-insured model.

In fiscal 2014, under self-insurance, total costs of medical insurance to the county were $35.3 million.

The previous fiscal year, under an outside insurer, costs were nearly $41 million. In a related item, employees in the county's preferred-provider health insurance option are looking at a huge increase that could cost a worker with family coverage an extra $4,982 a year.

Elías said he has some concerns about the proposal. "The equation for our employees has become: Don't get sick," he said.

The county has two basic insurance plans: a high-deductible plan and a preferred-provider-organization plan. Enditem

Employees in the preferred-provider plan already pay significantly higher premiums than those on the high-deductible plan, who swap lower premiums for higher out-of-pocket costs.

Under the proposal for next fiscal year, an employee with family coverage under the preferred-provider plan would see the biweekly premium go from $136.63 to $328.26 - a jump of more than $191 every two weeks, or 141 percent.

An employee with family coverage on the high-deductible plan would see an increase of only $1.85 per pay period.

Elías said the proposed plan for next year kept costs to the county low by increasing costs employees pay.

Huckelberry disagreed.

The county contribution for employee health coverage is $528.11 for those in the preferred-provider plan and $430.91 for those in the high-deductible plan each pay period.

Next year, Huckelberry proposed treating all employees equally, contributing a flat $462.72 per pay period, regardless of which plan they chose, meaning the county picks up a smaller share of the preferred-provider plans than before.

He recommends that the preferred-provider plan be eliminated at the end of the 2016 fiscal year because of its cost. Enditem