Board mulls proposal for health care plan change
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Recommend ThisBy Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com
FRONT ROYAL -- The Warren County School Board met Thursday to discuss a brief agenda, including changing employee health plans. But as Superintendend Pamela M. McInnis said at the meeting, "Right now it's all about preparation for school to start."
The session did entertain a proposal to eliminate the Keycare 10 (KC-10) plan for Warren County Public School employees. The change would offer instead the Keycare 20 (KC-20) plan, which would save employees money.
According to the proposal document, the 60 employees that are currently enrolled in the KC-10 plan could save between $1,272 and $7,800 by switching to the new plan.
The biggest savings would be for the employee and spouse package plan, totaling $6,252 on maximum premiums annually. The KC-10 version of this plan costs a monthly premium of $1,048, while the KC-20 version only costs $527.
The two health packages are similar in that they both provide 100 percent of preventative care benefits and the same prescription drug plan.
The biggest difference between the two is that the KC-10 offers unlimited visits to physical therapists, occupational therapists and related therapy-associated providers. The KC-20 allows 30 covered visits to each provider.
The change is part of a revision intended to change the health packages for Warren County public school employees before 2014. The KC-10 plan, as it is currently written, is not expected to meet the guidelines for the new health care guidelines that must be met by that date. It would instead qualify as a "Cadillac" or "high cost" plan that would mean that the school system would be taxed 40 percent of the difference in the value of the benefit and the threshold set.
By 2014, health care benefits must not take up more than 9.5 percent of en employees household income.
The School Board is scheduled to meet next Aug. 11.
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