JACKSON SCHOOLS GET NEW HEALTH INSURANCE

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Education has decided to switch to a state-managed health plan to keep district employees insured.

The board met during a special meeting Friday morning.

Board members voted to switch from Unicare to coverage by HealthNet Blue provided by the Missouri Consolidated Health Plan.

The state-managed plan provides government entities with a list of insurance providers after conducting a statewide bid process.

The district's contract with Unicare expires Sept. 30. Representatives from the company informed assistant superintendent Dr. Terry Gibbons on Monday that due to heavy losses, medical insurance premiums would be increased 56 percent and dental premiums would increase 81 percent.

"After presenting this to the board, we decided that wasn't an acceptable rate," Gibbons said. "They told us that their loss ratio was at 100 percent or very, very close to that. The board wants to provide insurance for district employees, so we needed to do something in a very short, quick period of time."

Although the notice was late, Gibbons said the provider was not acting underhandedly. By law, companies have 31 days to notify a policy-holder of rate increases. Even so, administrators are planning to request notification of rate increases 60 days before the end of a contract.

The premium increases would have made insurance unaffordable for many district employees, Gibbons said. Under the new rates, the premium for a family plan would jump from $282.12 to $458.89. The district would have seen an annual increase from $580,407 to $911,957.

"Irregardless of what it would have cost the district to pay, the board and administration were concerned what that would do to the employees and their dependents," he said. "That would be a tremendous jump for the employees to have to handle."

Gibbons said representatives from the Missouri Consolidated Health Plan will meet with district employees next week to get them enrolled. This process must be completed next week, he said, because insurance deductions for the month of October will be taken out of the Sept. 20 payroll.

"All of this hinges mainly for payroll," he said. "The deductions from the Sept. 20 check pays for October. We really don't even have the full month of September to try and set all this up."

Although the urgency may have caused some district employees to worry, Gibbons said most have been very supportive of the change.