Fattening the Cow

Governor Jindal has been pushing for the better part of the year now to privatize the state Office of Group Benefits which manages health benefits for state employees. It's a curious scheme given OGB's reputation as one of the state's better run agencies and the fact that the it posted a $500,000 surplus this year.

But Jindal has a yen for selling off state administered benefits programs such as Medicaid payments and his administration seems fixated on selling OGB despite heavy criticism.

They're currently planning to hire brokerage firm Morgan Keegan to help them determine the office's value to a private buyer. Which is one reason, among many, state employees are suspicious about the latest 5 percent increase in their health insurance premiums.

The rate increase, which follows a 5.6 percent hike earlier this year, comes as the administration explores hiring a private company to manage one of the office’s health plans.

Critics have accused the administration of plumping up the office’s cash reserves to make the plan more attractive to private companies.