With a watchful eye on its spending, the Warren County R-III School Board voted to change insurance companies to avoid an impending cost increase.
In an effort to stay aligned with one of the …
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With a watchful eye on its spending, the Warren County R-III School Board voted to change insurance companies to avoid an impending cost increase.
In an effort to stay aligned with one of the board’s three top priorities, addressing the financial future, a request for bids was sent out to survey possible insurance providers. Nine bids were received, with the lowest coming from Capstone/OSBA with Anthem as the carrier for the policy, at $505.83 per employee. This move will result in a savings of $325,984.68 for the district.
The board voted 6-0 to approve the Capstone bid during its monthly meeting on April 9. Had R-III stayed with its current provider Cigna, it would have been facing a $200,000 increase.
“Anticipating the increase, we knew it would be more than we wanted to pay,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “To be fiscally responsible, we decided to bid out, and those options came back quite a bit less.”
R-III bases its financial decisions off the provider’s PPO plan. Currently, the base plan has a deductible of $3,500 and that will remain, even with the cheaper rate.
“We were able to offer the same services to our employees at a lower cost,” said Klinginsmith. “We’re excited to save as much as possible and still offer the same service.”
Other insurance bids ranged from Wallstreet with Aetna at $553.21 per employee, to Wallstreet with Anthem in EBA consortium at $642. The district also looked at options with a deductible of $2,500 and is negotiating details of specific services offered through the selected plan.
“For the school district as a business providing benefits for our employees, it’s on us to negotiate our best rates with benefits that are taking good care of our people,” said school board member Dr. Chad Smith. “That’s what I think is most important.”
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Aaron Jones said the changes will result in fewer dollars going into the health savings accounts for those employees who opted for that benefit.
“We’re saving money, but we’re not giving anybody an inferior product,” said Jones. “We’re still giving them a very good product.”
The new policy will take effect on July 1. The district anticipates the enrollment period will begin in early May and run through the end of the month.
“It was really great to have this savings available during such uncertain times,” said Klinginsmith. “We’re really trying to be as conservative as we can with our finances, and this allows us to do that.”
