Senators vote to keep insurance plans

[h=2]They did not even record their votes.


Lawmakers have a better health care plan, and vote to keep it that way[/h]A standing-room only crowd in the Senate Budget Committee witnessed a tense and revealing debate among senators Tuesday. At issue was the fringe benefit legislators enjoy of cut-rate health insurance premiums -- much lower than many low-paid rank-and-file state workers.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, offered an amendment to a bill that would have increased legislators' premiums from $8 to $50 a month for individual coverage and from $30 to $180 a month for family coverage. The proposal was defeated on an unrecorded voice vote, with Chairman JD Alexander making the close call.
"There's no rationale for legislators to pay significantly lower health care costs than our counterparts in state government," Negron argued. "This does not change anything except for 160 people in this building."
But senator after senator challenged Negron, including Republicans Mike Bennett, Ellyn Bogdanoff and Evelyn Lynn and Democrat Gary Siplin. Bogdanoff accused Negron of making "political statements," and Bennett told Negron: "You're going to lower the pool of people who can afford to take this job."
Lynn noted that legislators, who earn about $29,000 a year, have had their pay cut several times in recent years and that they are constantly asked to buy tickets to events in their districts. "We pay for everything," Lynn said. "I don't want only rich people to be up here. The little guy is left out."
Negron said he was leaving the Capitol after midnight Tuesday morning when he saw two janitors cleaning up offices, which reminded him that he has cheaper health care than they do. Despite losing, he said he thought Alexander made the right call. "I think it was a close vote, but I think Chairman Alexander called it correctly," he said.
Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau