Governor Walker Calls for Public Employees to Pay 12% of Health Care Premiums

Currently, State Employees Pay 5%-6%, Compared to 30% for Private Employees With Family Coverage
As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Governor Walker, in his state of the state address, “called for having state employees pay 5% of their wages toward their pensions and 12% of their health care premiums, saying it would save the state $30 million over three months. Currently, most [state] employees contribute 0.2% of their wages toward their pensions and pay between 5% and 6% of their health premiums.” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for single coverage, private employees, on average, paid 20% of their health premiums while state and local government employees, on average, paid 11% of their health premiums. For family coverage, the bureau reported private employees, on average, paid 30% of their health premiums while state and local government employees, on average, paid 27% of their health premiums.
Related Material:
Medical Plans: Share of Premiums Paid for Single Coverage (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Medical Plans: Share of Premiums Paid for Family Coverage (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Governor Walker’s State of the State Address (The Wheeler Report)
Governor Walker focuses on public workers’ benefits, contract negotiation rules (Wausau Daily Herald)
Walker urges fiscal restraint, vows to move up Zoo Interchange project (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)