Mayor: ‘State Takeover’ of Parsippany Council if Health Benefits not Approved

Mayor Jamie Barberio said in a letter to the Parsippany council on Thursday that he "was shocked and appalled when the Township Council failed to take action on these contracts, the effect of which is to discontinue health and dental benefits for all Township employees effective Jan. 1, 2014.”

The resolutions were halted when no one seconded Councilman Michael diPierro's motion to pass them.  President Brian Stanton called for a special meeting to be held on Monday at 7 p.m to to award contracts to IDA and Delta Dental, according to Barberio.

Barberio ended his letter to the council “demanding that Township Council members put personal and political issues aside and do their job for the benefit of all township employees and taxpayers. To be clear, if the Township Council refuses to do its job, I will continue to do mine. If the Township Council does not approve these contracts, I will have no choice but to enter into emergency contracts with IDA and Delta Dental, forward those contracts to the State Comptroller’s Office on an expedited basis, and ask that office to approve these contracts to protect Township employees and taxpayers. A State takeover of the Township Council’s responsibility will be my only recourse if the members of the Township Council fail to do the job that they were elected to do.”

“Despite the Township’s legal obligation to provide these benefits pursuant to collective bargaining agreements and the demonstrated savings provided by these contracts, the majority of the Township Council decided that it was better to play politics than to do their job,” said Barberio.

The Township’s broker, Fairview Insurance Agency Associates, Inc. (Fairview) solicited proposals from third-party health benefits administrator, Insurance Design Administrators (IDA) and the Township’s dental benefits administrator, Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc. (Delta Dental), as well as other network providers, explained Barberio.

“Without IDA and Delta Dental, the Township will lose all network coverage benefits, all excess claims coverage, and the approximately $3 million in savings currently enjoyed by our taxpayers will disappear,” said Barberio.

At Tuesday's meeting, "rather than ask intelligent questions and make informed decisions regarding the renewal of these contracts, Councilmen Jonathan Nelson and Paul Carifi actively lobbied against the proposed contracts by badgering the Fairview representative," added Barberio. "Given their past antics, I am not surprised that Councilmen Nelson and Carifi attempted to turn our Township employees’ health benefits and our taxpayers’ money into a political issue ... I express my disdain towards Councilmen Nelson and Carifi for working against the resolutions.” 

“The contracts up for renewal do not concern Fairview; rather, they are contracts renewing the Township’s third-party health benefits administrator, IDA, and the Township’s dental benefits administrator, Delta Dental,” said Barberio. “These proposals were fully vetted and compared for maximum savings and benefits.”

Barberio said that all Township Council members were provided with contract information more a week ago. “Apparently, most of (the council) did not review it. If (they) had performed even a cursory review of the materials provided, (they) would have understood that the consequence of your actions was not to simply apply politics with a Township vendor, but to put our employees and taxpayers at significant and needless risk,” said Barberio.

Although the Township is self-insured, IDA and Delta Dental secure the network coverage (e.g., Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, MagnaCare, etc.) and provide the excess claims (stop loss) coverage upon which the benefits plan relies. Moreover, the provisions of the Healthcare Reform Act eliminated individual lifetime maximums, and as of Jan. 1, 2014, they will eliminate any individual annual maximums. As a result, the Township will be subject to unlimited claim exposure if stop loss coverage is not secured by the end of this year, said Barberio. Without IDA and Delta Dental, the Township loses all network coverage benefits, all excess claims coverage and the about $3 million in savings.

Barberio continued, IDA and Delta Dental are the current administrators of the Township’s health and dental benefits plan. Contracts with IDA and Delta Dental were awarded on Dec. 18, 2012, and the resolutions awarding those contracts, along with all supporting proposals and documentation, were forwarded to the New Jersey State Comptroller’s Office for review and approval, along with all other proposals received, but not awarded.