By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — Lawmakers in the state’s House of Representatives voted unanimously to take Medicare Advantage off the table for current state employees and retirees and to modify the membership of State Employee Benefits Committee on Tuesday.

The proposals, House Bills 281 and 282, were introduced by Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, following 10 months of work from the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee, of which he served as a co-vice chair.

The legislation was released from committee March 6, though amendments to both bills were not discussed until the measures reached the House floor.

Of the two bills, House Bill 282 intends to instill transparency and accountability on the State Employee Benefits Committee by shifting membership and leadership positions in the group.

The legislation was amended Tuesday to change its effective date to Jan. 1, 2025, restore the Department of Human Resources’ secretary as a voting member of the committee while keeping the Office of Management and Budget director as chair, and to make the controller general a nonvoting member of the group.

After the amendments passed, House Bill 282 received unanimous support from House lawmakers.

That led to the introduction of House Bill 281, which seeks to follow the subcommittee’s core recommendation of removing Medicare Advantage as an option for retiree health care in the ongoing request for proposals cycle.

After Rep. Baumbach and House Minority Whip Lyndon Yearick, R-Magnolia, struck each of their respective prefiled amendments, the Newark Democrat introduced House Amendment 3, which clarified that pensioners hired on or after Jan. 1, 2025, could have Medicare Advantage as an option.

“It does say that the first time that the SEBC is ready to bring in a Medicare Advantage plan as an option, they must go through the Administrative Procedures Act, which raises the level significantly of public participation and visibility,” Rep. Baumbach said on the House floor.

“This is one of the main concerns that we heard in the past three years; the last time when the SEBC brought forward Medicare Advantage, not as a choice but as the only option, that the public was caught unaware and frankly, so was the legislature.”

The amendment passed via voice vote, and though some lawmakers did oppose the alteration, the bill itself received unanimous passage.

While both measures head to the Senate for consideration, House Bill 281’s amendments drew conflicting positions from retiree stakeholders who have fought Medicare Advantage since the state’s attempted implementation of the plan in 2022.

In the days following the legislation’s March 6 release from committee, former Rep. John Kowalko, a co-founder of Retirees Investing in Social Equity (RISE) Delaware, urged lawmakers to pass the bill without any amendments.

The former representative said the amendments would deconstruct the bill, and while it would ensure Medicare Advantage is not an option for current employees and retirees, “it’s for sure a betrayal of future employees and retirees.”

“RISE was formed and cofounded by Connie (Merlet), myself and Elisa Diller with the very specific intention of covering and supporting not only current retirees, not only future retirees, but future employees of the state of Delaware,” Mr. Kowalko said. “If Medicare Advantage is put back on the table, even as an option, it’ll soon outpace the urge or responsibility of government to fund health care for employees.”

Mr. Kowalko, who left his post on the RISE Delaware executive board Dec. 4 last year, wrote to legislators and on a public Facebook page for the group opposing the amendments, urging lawmakers to vote against them.

This led former Sen. Karen Peterson, a legislative liaison for RISE, to release an official statement on behalf of the group, in which she iterated the organization’s support for Rep. Baumbach’s original House Amendment 1, which would have also provided Medicare Advantage as an option for employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2025.

After Tuesday’s House session, Ms. Peterson and former New Castle County Councilmember Elisa Diller, RISE Delaware co-founder and president, said they were “delighted” that both bills passed and hoped for a swift and successful process in the Senate so that both measures are codified.

Ms. Peterson added the retiree benefits subcommittee “never said never Medicare Advantage,” just that it would not be considered in the ongoing request for proposals cycle.

“We’ve done what we set out to do in terms of providing good health care for the retirees who worked for it (and) thought they were promised it,” Ms. Diller said. “I don’t think anybody here wants to walk away from what happens in the future, but there’s a lot we can’t control. I think Rep. Baumbach did a great job; he put his neck on the line for us.”

As both House Bills 281 and 282 head to their next step in the legislative process, both proposals have been assigned to the Senate Executive Committee for consideration.

Regarding the ongoing request for proposals cycle, the State Employee Benefits Committee will vote March 25 to approve its recommended contract recipient.