BUSHNELL – The Bushnell-Prairie City 170 School District is facing rising insurance premiums after reviewing its insurance renewal with Blue Cross/ Blue Shield during a recent school board meeting this month.
District Superintendent Robert Gound said that the big driver behind the increase of insurance premiums is the usage of the insurance plans by school employees even though the number of school employees has decreased slightly, indicating that the school census has dipped somewhat by ten employees.
Gound said the total premiums paid by the district last year were $1,081,935 and total claims being paid out this year were $1,364,382. The district is in an insurance (or risk) pool, meaning the insurance company who covers them is working with other insurance coverage providers to reduce the risk of any catastrophic or serious insurance claim. There will be an on-going trend of higher insurance premiums, regardless of the number of claims which potentially could be filed annually.
“The increase in insurance premiums is not always drastic or out of proportion, but we are going to see a trend that way,” Gound said.
“So, basically when we look at our current plan for employees this past year, what we paid was $812.44 per month, per employee which is increasing to $907.61 per month, per employee. The annual insurance premiums paid out of the district were $9,744 which are increasing to $10,800.91.”
During the discussion at the recent school board meeting, a representative asked why a more beneficial plan could not be found to cover the same number of employees for a reduced price and still provide the same coverage. Gound said that there is no one ideal plan that could cover everyone because each person has a different series of circumstances.
“Insurance is so complex that often times when you make a change from one plan to another even if the plans are for the most part very similar you still have winners and losers. There are some people who are insured where the benefit is better for them and there are others who the benefits are not as good, and I think if we’re going to take a look at making a change to it with a different plan. I would like to have some time to sit down, look at it, and make sure that we can roll it out with integrity,” Gound said.
The school board voted in favor of the motion to accept the annual insurance renewal with Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Illinois.
