District’s cost had declined in each of six previous years
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
One year after asking employees to accept a significant hike in out-of-pocket medical insurance costs, the Burlington Area School District Board of Education on Monday decided it is the taxpayers’ turn to share in the spiraling cost of insurance.
On a unanimous voice vote, the board accepted a 12 percent medical insurance premium increase for next school year from its current provider, WEA Trust.
The increase will result in an additional cost of $521,000 for the 2017-18 school year.
Supt. Peter Smet said the district had already built a 9 percent increase into the proposed budget and was able to absorb the remaining 3 percent with little impact on other items.
The board had the option of selecting two other insurance plans – both with less than 1 percent premium increases – but both of those plans offered fewer network providers and no guarantee that premium costs wouldn’t skyrocket the following year.
The WEA proposal offers the possibility of a second year in a narrower provider network configuration with a 6 percent premium cap and the potential to lower that cap to 4 percent through a two-pronged incentive program.
After considerable discussion of the matter, the board accepted the recommendation of Smet, who said the district’s health insurance costs have decreased in each of the past six years due mainly to the provisions of Act 10 that allowed the district to pass more of the cost on to teachers and other staff.
Relative viewpoint
“We’re still significantly below where we were on health insurance (cost) going back to 2009,” Smet said. “In the health insurance environment that we’re living in, that’s not bad.”
Smet also said in the competitive environment for teachers, he would prefer the district retain the current benefits for next year and have a year to “educate” teachers about the probability of transitioning from a broad provider network to a narrow provider network.
“This provides some stability for our employees, who agreed to a significant change in deductibles for this year,” he said.
In an effort to save money, the district increased deductibles from $250 for individual and $500 for family coverage to $2,000/$4,000 this school year. Both plans covered 100 percent of costs once deductibles were met, but the current plan requires significant out-of-pocket costs from employees.
“(Teacher) take-home pay is still less than it was in 2010-11,” Smet said.
Consultant Jeff Ireland of M3 Insurance said that Burlington’s employee out-of-pocket costs were the highest among the area school districts he works with, including Mukwonago, Muskego and New Berlin.
School Board President Jim Bousman agreed with Smet’s recommendation.
“We hit (staff) pretty hard last year,” he said. “It’s a good time to even things out and give them an opportunity to adjust to a narrower network the next year.”
Board member Roseanne Hahn said: “We want to keep our teachers – they’re the key.”
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