Arcadia schools opt to stay with current insurance company over state plan

Insurance for employees in the Arcadia School District will look slightly different for the 2023-24 school year after a school board vote last Monday.

The district will pay for 88 percent of the premiums on the insurance, which will continue to be provided by Security Health.

The annual premium for employees will increase about nine percent next school year for both single and family plans from this year’s costs, according to numbers presented on Monday.

The board also learned of a possible plan offered through the state that would have seen higher premiums but lower deductibles.

“It boils down to two things — the amount we’re asking out of pocket per month, and the amount we’re asking out of pocket in an insurance year,” Superintendent Lance Bagstad told the board Monday.

One area that will see a decrease of district spending under the plan is the health savings account (HSA), where employees on the single plan will see a cut to $500 from this year’s $1,750 allotment, while the family plan will see an HSA decrease to $1000 from this year’s $3,500 limit.

The district is projected to save about $90,000 with the new plan and would have saved about half that if it had switched to the state plan due to an $800 surcharge to monthly premiums due to high loss ratio of the health-covered group over the last three years, Bagstad said.

The savings is largely related to the reduction of the HSA, Bagstad said.

“I would say that both plans from what I’ve been able to research and what I’ve understood from talking to people, both the state plan and the security health plan are good insurance plans,” Bagstad said.

An employee survey initially showed that district workers may prefer the state plan, but the premiums and the surcharge of the state plan created some concern, Arcadia Education Association co-president Emily Instenes told the board. 

Employees hope the district might reconsider the state plan in a few years with the hope the loss ratio — and premiums as a result — will improve.

“More people are leaning toward Security with the hope of looking at the state plan in the future when our loss ratio is lower and be more affordable,” Instenes said.

School board president Paul Servais said he supports the teacher’s wishes, adding that the savings are a welcomed benefit.

The state plan would have seen premium increases at a time when the district may not be able to increase staff pay next year due to a failed operational referendum earlier this month.

“We’re talking about maybe not increasing wages,” Servais said, “so is it fair to increase premiums $300 too?”