FIRST TAKE Taking Care? WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY L


ast month, insurance exchanges opened for those wishing to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. Americans can use their state’s “affordable” insurance exchange, or marketplace, to obtain less expensive coverage from competing private healthcare providers. Te goal is to offer benefits to the 44 million uninsured and, as a result, drive down healthcare costs. Regardless of political leanings — results from a Rasmussen poll released on Oct. 7 found that slightly


more people viewed Obamacare unfavorably (49 percent) versus favorably (45 percent) — most will agree that healthcare in this country needs to be reformed for any number of reasons. A Kaiser Family Health Tracking Poll conducted in mid-September found that 47 percent of respondents indicated they had encountered at least one of nine listed problems regarding their current coverage, ranging from being denied care to billing issues to not being covered for a particular treatment or specific kind of care they needed. But how to administer and pay for reform is where things get sticky. Certainly, many companies as well as


school districts are anxious to say the least about how the mandate will affect them. So, too, are employees, regardless if their employer currently provides healthcare or not. Te law requires companies with 50 or more employees to offer insurance or pay a fine of $2,000 per


employee. It also provides affordable healthcare for individuals making less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, which equates to $46,000 a year for individuals or $93,500 for families. Tis definition can certainly apply to many in the industry, especially drivers and monitors, regardless if they are supplementing another income or Social Security checks, driving a school bus is all they've got. Te “right thing to do” would be to ensure that all employees — drivers, monitors, routers, dispatchers, me-


chanics, etc. — have insurance. But is that feasible? Te various classifications of school employees and who is part-time versus full-time is dizzying. It will be interesting to see just what happens when the requirement for individuals to have coverage goes into effect in January. Will school districts and businesses continue to provide insurance to part-time workers, those who work less than 30 hours a week? If so, for how long? Will some businesses with 50 or more full-time, 30-or-more-hour-per-week employees find it more


economical to pay the resulting fine for not providing healthcare? Tis can be a drop in the bucket when considering that providing healthcare can cost an employer at least $5,000 to $10,000 a year per employee. Will uninsured individuals pay a penalty on their tax return, which by 2016 will increase to $695 per


person making between $9,500 and $37,000 a year, even more for higher tax brackets, rather than buy insurance through an exchange? Can they afford not to? Healthcare benefits are grand, but as mentioned above, many school bus drivers are supplementing their


income from another job or are retired. Even so, it’s hard to make ends meet with an average starting salary of $11 to $13 an hour, much less pay out-of-pocket for health insurance. Granted, as we are reminded this month in our survey report on page 16, school bus operators are paying a lot of additional fees beyond insurance for their employees, especially for drivers who require CDLs, classroom and behind-the-wheel training, background checks, drug and alcohol testing, and physicals. But at the same time, nearly 60 percent of our survey respondents are still experiencing driver shortages. Why? More than one industry veteran has told me that, in their opinion, the single biggest issue affecting the


industry is the low pay of drivers and other transportation staff, especially when considering the immense responsibilities they shoulder each school day. Tis can prompt bus drivers to throw up their arms and seek employment with the local transit agency or a truck company, where they can earn higher salaries with far less responsibility. For some, health benefits are the only provision that keeps food on the table each month. So when it comes to healthcare, yes, there are more questions than answers at this point, and many


school districts and other businesses are cutting back as a result. But also be cautious of the impact of taking away employer-provided healthcare away affects, not only on your employees’ livelihoods but also on your operations — those that relies on passionate, experienced and skilled transportation professionals who already don't earn that much. You want to retain these workers, not drive them away. Tere is a very big cost associated with hiring, training and certifying new drivers to take their place, the least of which is monetary. Bottom lines are bottom lines. Just don’t underestimate how employee retention, and satisifaction, affect the bottom line of student safety. 


10 School Transportation News November 2013


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