We recently negotiated a package of health insurance benefits with HMSA which are comparable to and somewhat superior to the current HMSA health insurance that 2,313 of our members carry through the State Health Fund. The big difference is in the cost. Of that number, some have failed to fill the forms out correctly, and we have had to return them for correction. Since the April 3 deadline is closely coming up, I am worried that you may overlook this opportunity and not take advantage of this program which was specifically negotiated to benefit you. After that, you will be locked into the State HMSA plan and have to pay a lot more for less coverage.
Some members are worried about that.
I do not want to be accused of being overly blunt, but all the evidence suggests that every person beginning to use that much insurance has expired long before reaching the limit. The choice is yours, but because we care about your interests, we wanted to be absolutely sure that you knew your options. For some time now the State of Hawaii has been threatening to impose a payroll lag on its public employees. This threat has caused grave concern and consternation among those employees. Recently, the members of our Bargaining Unit were all provided warning that such a lag would indeed be imposed.