Education employees in Alabama may have to pay more for health insurance

posted by Michael Hanson

Teachers in Alabama may end up paying more for health insurance due to a plan put forward by the state's board of education.

In order to deal with financial difficulties, the board recommended that either health insurance benefits be cut down or teachers pay more for their coverage. The plan would also affect retirement insurance, and would require that education employees put 6, rather than 5 percent, of their salaries toward the later years in life.

Alabama Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said that since 1986 education employees have only paid $2 a month for health insurance. In a report from the Associated Press, Morton said that maintaining the current health benefits would cost an additional $238 million during the 2010-2011 school year.

"We are in dire straits," Morton said in the AP report.

As Alabama educators face cuts in their insurance, legislators at the federal level are working toward trying to create healthcare reform. The House recently passed Affordable Health Care for America Act, which aims at trying to change the healthcare system.