Compromise reached in CCSD health fund dispute

Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 10 a.m.

Facing $34,000 in unpaid medical bills after the collapse of her union's health fund, Clark County School District custodian Jackie Baffa turned to the only person she could -- her 17-year-old daughter.

The bills were unpaid medical claims submitted to the health fund by hospitals and doctors that treated the teenage girl after a serious car wreck in January 2000, Baffa said. Her daughter used the settlement money she received from the driver's insurance company to pay the family's debt.

"That money was supposed to pay for her education, and she was robbed of it," Baffa told the school district's board of trustees Thursday. "I won't be satisfied until my daughter gets her money back."

The Education Support Employees Association's health trust, which covered the more than 7,300 district workers, collapsed last year, leaving $7 million in unpaid medical bills. A dispute arose after school district officials questioned whether the union's debt qualified for help via an emergency allocation from the state.

District administrators and union officials said Thursday they have agreed to share the $8.2 million in emergency health insurance funds, but it's unlikely Baffa's daughter will ever be repaid. Only medical expenses incurred by union members July 1, 2001, through Sept. 15 will be considered, Superintendent Carlos Garcia said.

Joe Furtado, executive director of the union representing custodial staff, bus drivers and other non-licensed personnel, said he was relieved a compromise had been reached.

"We were gearing up for a big fight with the district, which was not something we were looking forward to," Furtado said.

Paying off the fund's debt is the union's top priority, Furtado said. The union's final share of the emergency funds could be up to $2.4 million, and the first installment could be available as soon as March 1, Furtado said.

Sharon Grenner, a school district bus driver, said the union's share of the money should first go to members who paid out-of-pocket for medical expenses after the fund failed.

"We've had people who had to file bankruptcy, had their credit ruined, been dragged to small claims court," Grenner said. "It's not fair."