School board signs on to opioid lawsuit

CENTERVILLE — The St. Mary Parish School Board signed on to a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies Thursday. The lawsuit alleges that their marketing practices contributed to an epidemic of opioid abuse.
The board made the decision after a closed-door session with attorneys Mike Stag and Joe Burke, who are part of a group of legal firms representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The Morgan City, Berwick and Patterson councils had already joined the lawsuit.
The rate of opioid overdose deaths tripled in Louisiana between 2011 and 2016, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The rate of deaths per 100,000 residents is lower in Louisiana than in the rest of the nation, but the number of opioid prescriptions here outnumbers the population, according to the institute.
The lawsuit seeks to recover the costs that local governments have incurred from the added demand on police, medical and justice services.
The legal representation will cost the school board nothing if the lawsuit is unsuccessful. If the litigation succeeds, the attorneys will get 25 percent of any judgment up to $10 million, 20 percent of the next $10 million and 15 percent of anything over $20 million.
Also Thursday, the board heard from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and United Health Care representatives as members try to decide how to contain growing health care costs for school board employees, especially the cost of prescription drugs.
Attention has centered on a possible Medicare Advantage plan for the more than 400 Medicare-eligible retirees covered by the school board.
Under the conventional Medicare system, the federal government pays providers for services to recipients. Insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans are paid by the government to cover recipients.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which carries the current school board employee and retiree insurance, had submitted a renewal proposal calling for a 9.7 percent premium increase at a time when the board is struggling with declining enrollment and depressed tax revenue.
Blue Cross and UHC presented options that could lower or even eliminate the increase, but the board wants to consider the proposals. Members will come back for a special meeting to pick an insurer at 5 p.m. Oct. 18 at the school board offices in Centerville.
Superintendent Leonard Armato told the school board that the decline in enrollment is continuing.
He said the current enrollment submitted to the state for funding under the Minimum Foundation Program is 8,222, down from 8,314 in 2017-18.
The total enrollment, which also includes pre-K, is 8,578, down from 8,700 last year.
“We’re still seeing people leaving the parish due to the economy,” Armato said.