When Idaho lawmakers approved a $ 105 million increase in school health insurance funding earlier this year, they hoped it would increase salaries for thousands of teachers across the state.
The move provided an increase in state support for school health insurance costs by almost 50%. It averaged about $ 4,100 per teacher and trusted staff member.
At the same time, the legislature approved a separate $ 75.5 million cash fund to cover one-time redemption costs for counties wishing to switch from private insurers to a state-funded self-financing insurance plan.
The idea behind it all was to help counties provide health plans that have better benefits, lower premiums and lower out-of-pocket costs.
“Most teachers currently have a deduction of $ 1,000 to $ 3,000 and pay $ 600 to $ 1,500 a month in bonuses (for family plans),” R-Rigby’s spokesman Rod-Furnis said during a debate on the proposal on Jan. 24. “Some teachers and staff write a check at the end of the month to their school to pay for health insurance. I think we can do better than that. ”
Six months later, the jury still does not know whether the deputies achieved that goal.
In north-central Idaho, for example, some school employees will see a significant reduction in health care costs. Others may see gradual improvements, but not the expected results of a “game change.”
The Cottonwood School District could be a poster for what the legislature hoped to achieve.
Superintendent Jon Rehder said the district would switch from its private insurer to a state health plan in September.
“It was not smart for us at all,” he said. “Family premiums currently amount to $ 634 per month. The new premiums are $ 327 a month, so they are halved. And the deduction is much better; that’s $ 350, compared to $ 750 under our current plan. ”
Rehder and the district’s business manager spent weeks checking the numbers, making sure they would last.
“When you move to the state plan, you are stuck there for five years, so we wanted to make sure that the move was financially viable for the district and beneficial for our staff,” he said. We spent six or seven weeks telephoning, sending emails, wondering ‘what if.’ I would go to bed thinking about the numbers. ”
Cottonwood was one of the first counties in the state to move to the state plan.
Each district, however, has to make its own unique analysis - and for some figures it just doesn’t work.
“Moving to the state plan was expensive for us, even with additional funding,” said Leviston school district supervisor Lance Hansen. “We had an increase of about 1.5 million dollars, and we were still 1.8 million dollars shy of what the state plan cost.
The Moscow School District will not make a final decision until August, but Superintendent Greg Bailey said he will probably wait to see if the Legislative Assembly will make any more changes this year.
“We currently have a good insurance program,” he said. “It would be very expensive to switch to the state plan. I guess we may not move this year. We have two years to decide. “
One of the problems preventing many districts from making the change is that $ 105 million has been allocated based on support units, which are the standard substitute for the number of classrooms in the school.
Each support unit provides funding for the teacher and a number of classified staff. Many counties, however, employ more people than they are reimbursed under the state funding formula.
Hansen said that when the formula was last modified in the 1990s, it did not deal with things like IT staff or other critical positions.
“When you look at what is needed to provide educational services today, the formula is not even close,” he said.
Consequently, districts that have an actual number of employees greater than what is provided by the support unit formula must find local funds to pay for these positions.
The same goes for health insurance costs. Moscow, for example, predicts that it will receive about $ 2.1 million in state funding for employee health care this year. However, that is about $ 1.1 million less than the expected cost. And moving to a state plan would cost even more.
Business manager Jennifer Johnson said that additional state money is helpful, but it only goes that far.
“We have about 330 members who meet the requirements for benefits, and we only fund 108.58,” she said.
The districts must decide by Friday whether they want to switch to the state health plan this year. As of Wednesday, 26 counties with about 5,300 employees have applied for the change.
Additional government funding should also lead to some level of improvement, even in districts that do not join the state plan.
“The districts I’ve heard from get better policies, lower co-payments or cover more of the premium,” said Queen Perry, director of policy and government affairs at the Idaho School Board Association. “I know the money was well received. The districts believe that this is an investment that will be translated to the local level. “
Wendy Horman’s attorney, R-Idaho Falls, who co-sponsored the law that allows counties to accept the state plan, said that has always been her primary goal.
“For those (legislators) who expected all school districts to be included in the state plan, it failed,” she said. “But for those of us who have been committed to this investment because we thought it would improve the quality, cost and benefits of school health insurance, I think it works well.