Washoe County School District leaders discussed the possibility of raising insurance rates for employees.
The insurance they provide is funded by the county, so they really have to look at the performance of their plans to ensure they are keeping up with the cost of claims for the year.
Comparing what they spend to what they bring in can sometimes lead to an increase.
It’s up to the Group Insurance Committee to figure out how to budget accordingly and make sure they have enough to continue the coverage they provide.
Mackenzie Howren, who is the Benefits Manager for the committee, says, "As a self-funded plan, it's our responsibility to look at the revenue that's going into this fund every year. And at times, if we're spending more than what we have in revenue coming in, we have a stewardship responsibility to increase our revenue, and so that's what the committee is discussing tonight to look at January 1st of 2027.”
There are two health care options offered: a PPO plan that is commonly used in companies and a high-deductible plan that is available at the time of hire for those in a benefit-eligible position.
At this meeting, they were discussing whether both needed to have an increase in rates.
That means the cost, deductible, or out-of-pocket maximum could be increased.
Howren also told us, "The way that our self-funded plan is structured right now, it pays for employees in full. So if you're on an employee-only plan, you don't have any health insurance premiums. The district covers all of that. If you have dependents on your plan, then you would be responsible for the dependent’s premium."
If a person retires from the school district and is enrolled in health insurance, they have the option to continue their enrollment.
A person on the committee is retired and speaks on behalf of other retirees. She says they are very unhappy to hear of another possible increase since they are on a fixed income.
Jacqueline Wiebe, the retiree member on the committee, said, "Just for my husband and me. It's $1,400 a month. So, for a single person, she was paying $840. This woman was paying nearly $900 for a single person. And talking about getting second jobs to pay for that as well."
They decided to only have the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum for the PPO plan increase.
They’ll present this option to the board at a later meeting to see if it moves forward for the next enrollment window this upcoming October.
