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incurring the federal excise tax known <br />as the "Cadillac Tax". <br />d) Supports changes to Minn. Stat. <br />§ 471.61 so that the requirement for <br />cities to offer retiree coverage begins <br />on the date the retiree and/or <br />dependents become eligible for federal <br />Medicare coverage. <br />e) Supports a clarification to Minn. Stat <br />§ 471.61 and to Minn. Stat. § 471.617 <br />to explicitly alleviate a city's <br />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 any mandatory, centralized, <br />statewide health insurance option for <br />active or retired city employees. <br />h) Supports changing Minn. Stat. § <br />62A.21 to place reasonable limits on <br />health care continuation for former <br />spouses, similar to the Federal <br />COBRA law. <br />g) <br />HR -12. 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, the 2013 legislature added post- <br />traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a <br />compensable injury and in 2014, a <br />Minnesota Supreme Court decision found <br />that provisions in the Workers' <br />Compensation statute which allow workers <br />compensation benefits for permanent and <br />total disabilities to be offset by disability <br />benefits and pension benefits such as Social <br />Security does not apply to retirement <br />benefits of the Public Employees Retirement <br />Association. The Minnesota Legislature has <br />also regularly considered proposals to <br />expand the heart, lung and infectious disease <br />presumptions for public safety workers, or <br />to make the presumptions more conclusive <br />and difficult to rebut. These types of benefit <br />expansions would further increase municipal <br />workers' compensation costs. <br />Response: Legislative action is necessary <br />to address increasing workers' <br />compensation costs, particularly rising <br />medical costs. The League of Minnesota <br />Cities supports use of the Workers <br />Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) <br />system to consider proposals for changes <br />to the workers' compensation law, and <br />urges the WCAC and the Legislature to <br />approve medical cost containment <br />reforms. The League also supports filling <br />an existing WCAC employer vacancy <br />with a public sector employer <br />representative or adding a designated <br />public sector employer representative to <br />the WCAC. <br />The League opposes expansion of <br />workers' compensation and related health <br />insurance benefits because of the <br />potential for dramatically increasing costs <br />to cities. Specifically, the League opposes <br />expansion of the heart, lung and <br />infectious disease presumptions as well as <br />any expansion of the law that would <br />require payment of health insurance <br />premiums or that would include mental <br />injuries that have no physical cause or <br />manifestation. <br />The League also supports continuing the <br />WCRA as the mandatory workers' <br />compensation reinsurer for insurers and <br />self -insurers in Minnesota and supports <br />modifying state statutes to treat PTSD <br />League of Minnesota Cities <br />2016 City Policies Page 81 <br />