Members reject dental plan change

Turnout was sparse for Thursday’s vote on dental care, but the members who did cast their ballots decided to stick with Empire Blue Cross.

The vote was 17-10 against switching to dental insurance provided by Guardian.

For the most part, members were ambivalent about the switch. Different dentists accepted different insurance, making it hard to gauge the overall impact on the membership as a whole.

Even the Guild leadership had conflicting feelings. President Tim O’Brien learned his dentist might drop Blue Cross and might pick up Guardian, but nothing was certain.

Guild leaders said turnout would have been stronger, and more opposed, if the proposed cap of $2,500 per person had been in the mix. Guardian had agreed to withdraw the cap. But with an estimated savings of only $11 a year, the proposal did little to drive members to vote or to want to switch.

“We remain open to discussing ways to save whenever they arise,” O’Brien said. “Summer is a tough time to rivet people’s attention on this subject, especially with so little savings at stake.”