Politics & Government

UPDATED: City Council Rejects Mayor's Health Insurance Change

A majority of the City Council voted down an idea by Mayor Scott Galvin to adopt the local option of the state's Municipal Health Care Reform law that "would allow Woburn to make changes to co-pays, deductibles and tiering."

UPDATED at 5:38 p.m. Friday: Mayor Scott Galvin's PowerPoint presentation has been added. Flip through the presentation to reach out more about why the mayor supported Woburn adopting a local health insurance option. 

Note: Galvin's presentation is a PowerPoint, which doesn't work perfectly with the website. Readers should enlarge the presentation so you're able to see more of the slides. 

Original post at 3:38 p.m. Thursday:

Find out what's happening in Woburnwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Despite Mayor Scott Galvin’s estimates that Woburn could save more than $1.5 million annually by adopting a local health insurance option, a majority of the Woburn City Council rejected the idea – and voted to not even send it to committee.

Galvin said the local option would allow Woburn to make changes to co-pays, deductibles and tiering. That would not change employee contributions, which “would still be the subject to traditional bargaining,” said Galvin in a letter to the City Council.

Find out what's happening in Woburnwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“This the same way that plan design changes are implemented for every employee that works for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he said in a letter to the council.

Galvin presented the idea to the City Council on Tuesday, but the council rejected sending the idea to committee by a 5-4 vote.

"This sounds simple, but it actually impacts the sickest and most in need of services," said Ward 1 Alderman Rosa DiTucci, reported the Daily Times Chronicle. "These are the people who are being impacted the most."

DiTucci, Ward 2 Alderman Richard Gately, Ward 3 Alderman Mark Gaffney, Ward 6 Alderman Michael Raymond and Ward 7 Alderman Raymond Drapeau all supported Gately’s motion to squash the idea and not send it to committee.

Councilors who voted in favor of sending it to committee said the councilors should at least discuss the idea.

After the council’s rejection, Galvin sent a statement to the Daily Times Chronicle that said the current health insurance system in Woburn and in other communities is “unsustainable” and city officials have “to do what is best for all the residents and taxpayers of this city.”

“For a majority of the City Council to refuse to face this reality—or even discuss it—is irresponsible and simply kicks the difficult but necessary measures to address this growing problem down the road for others. 

"The five self-interested Aldermen (Richard Gately, Rosa DiTucci, Mike Raymond, Ray Drapeau and Mark Gaffney)—all of whom receive the same city of Woburn health insurance benefits that they refused to discuss reforming—have clearly neglected their fiduciary duty to the 39,000 Woburn residents and taxpayers they were elected to serve. In addition to being self-serving in nature, their votes display a lack of political courage and shameless pandering that I have not seen in my 20 years of public service,” said Galvin.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here