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responsibility to comply with group <br />health benefits mandated by state law <br />when the city's employees are covered <br />under a union plan authorized by <br />federal statutes. <br />f) Supports statutory authorization for <br />cities to collect up to a two percent <br />administrative fee from retirees <br />receiving post -retirement health <br />insurance benefits. <br />Opposes a centralized, statewide <br />health insurance option for active or <br />retired employees unless: a) <br />participation in the plan is offered on <br />a voluntary, not mandatory, basis; <br />and b) the plan takes into account and <br />accommodates the different financial <br />capacities and needs of a wide variety <br />of cities. <br />h) Supports changing Minn. Stat. § <br />62A.21 to place reasonable limits on <br />health care continuation for former <br />spouses. Former spouse coverage <br />should be limited to 36 months of <br />coverage following the date of divorce <br />(the current standard under the <br />Federal COBRA law), or to the date <br />the former spouse becomes eligible for <br />coverage under another group health <br />plan, including a MNsure plan or <br />federal Medicare coverage. <br />g) <br />HR-15. Workers' Compensation <br />Issue: Rising medical costs are an <br />increasingly serious problem for all <br />employers and insurers, and now represent <br />over half of all loss costs within the <br />workers' compensation system. Medical <br />costs will be a major driver of future <br />workers' compensation premium increases. <br />In addition, virtually every year legislators <br />introduce proposals to expand the heart, <br />lung and infectious disease presumptions for <br />public safety workers, or to make the <br />presumptions more conclusive and difficult <br />to rebut. These types of benefit expansions <br />further increase municipal workers' <br />compensation costs. <br />In the last several years, the Workers' <br />Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC), <br />a joint labor-management committee whose <br />purpose is to review proposals for benefit <br />changes or other amendments to the <br />workers' compensation system, has been <br />discussing ideas to address escalating <br />medical costs. While the WCAC system has <br />worked well for many years to help stabilize <br />and de -politicize workers' compensation <br />issues, more recently this group has had <br />difficulty reaching agreement on more <br />controversial issues. However, in 2007 the <br />WCAC recommended legislation that would <br />have helped contain medical costs in the <br />workers' compensation system by adjusting <br />some payments to hospitals to offset greater <br />benefits for workers. <br />The Workers' Compensation Reinsurance <br />Association (WCRA) is a nonprofit <br />organization that reinsures all workers' <br />compensation insurers and self -insured <br />employers in Minnesota. The WCRA <br />assures financial security for Minnesota's <br />employers and their most seriously injured <br />workers by providing cost-effective <br />reinsurance coverage. There may be <br />legislative attempts to allow insurers or <br />employers to opt out of the WCRA, which <br />could have a negative impact on the viability <br />of the WCRA due to adverse selection <br />problems. <br />In 2013, the legislature added post -traumatic <br />stress disorder (PTSD) as a compensable <br />injury under Minn. Stats. § 176.011 by <br />defining PTSD to be an occupational <br />disease, which results in a situation where <br />WCRA reinsurance would treat multiple <br />PTSD occurrences related to a single event <br />as separate "occurrences" for purposes of <br />the reinsurance. The result is that the total <br />dollar cost to a city or other employer who <br />League of Minnesota Cities <br />2015 City Policies Page 82 <br />