AMY SZPARA

RESERVE – The St. John the Baptist Parish School System may soon pay a lot more for their employee and retiree health insurance plan due to upcoming changes in the benefit schedule. The current contract with United Health Care expires May 31, and the insurance committee has recommended the board renew with the same company, though costs are rising. At a recent school board meeting, representatives from United Health Care spoke with the board about reasons for the increases.After requesting bids for insurance from 12 other insurance companies and being declined by all of them, the school system has no other choice than to stick with its existing company, forcing the school system to fork out more money for premiums and employees to have higher deductibles. Yearly deductible costs will double as of June 1 for both single and family plans, and out-of-pocket maximums will quadruple for the single person and double for the family. The single person plan premium with United Health Care will go from a $250.05 monthly rate to a $297.56 rate. Monthly costs for an employee with one dependent is going from $436.26 to $519.15, and an employee with a family will go from $568.89 to $676.98. According to Felix Boughton, acting executive director of business and finance, the school system pays 100 percent of employee premiums and around 80 to 90 percent of what the family pans cost. The 19 percent increase in premium costs is not unusual, said Boughton, as the medical trend is to raise costs about 15 percent a year. The rates are a little higher for plans that have a high claim occurrence. Boughton added the other insurance companies did not bid because of the high claim rate the school system has experienced. “We’ve had high claims over the last two to three years. Their premiums would have to be too high,” he said, adding they would probably have to raise costs about 40 percent. Right now the school system is talking with the union to determine what percentage two-party plan members and those with family plans will have to pay monthly. At the next school board meeting, set April 19 at the Godchaux Grammar School Cafeteria in Reserve, the board will vote to either approve the health insurance renewal with United Health Care or to seek out other options.