The Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA

March 8

'It's like buying in bulk'

Teachers' insurance savings top $200,000 in Augusta, says superintendent

MATTHEW STONE, Staff Writer

Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to return $20 million in state funds to local school districts wasn't the only bit of budget relief to cross school budget writers' desks last week.

The statewide organization that manages teachers' health benefits told members it had negotiated a 2 percent premium increase with its insurance provider for the 2010-11 school year, coming in below most school districts' expectations.

According to superintendents, some school districts had been bracing for premium increases as high as 12 percent.

"It's very helpful in terms of budget development," Augusta schools Superintendent Cornelia Brown said.

For Augusta's public schools, the 2 percent premium increase -- as opposed to the 10 percent increase city school officials had prepared for -- translates into a savings of more than $200,000, Brown said.

The Maine Education Association Benefits Trust negotiated the 2 percent increase with its insurance provider, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, said Christine Burke, the trust's executive director. The 2 percent jump stands in contrast to the 23 percent rate hike Anthem had requested last month for two of its other Maine insurance plans.

Burke said it helped that Maine's teachers are part of a large insurance pool. The Benefits Trust plans cover nearly 70,000 teachers, retired teachers and their family members.

"It's like buying in bulk," she said.

Plus, Burke said, negotiators for the Benefits Trust -- which is a sister organization to the teachers' union -- agreed to some concessions for plan participants.

The copayments for emergency room visits will double, for example, and the plan will cover 85 percent of in-network care costs, down from the 90 percent it covered previously, according to Burke. For out-of-network care, she said, the Benefits Trust plan will cover 65 percent of costs during the 2010-11 school year, down from the prior 70 percent.

"We're all doing all of the things that need to be done to bring the costs of the plans down," Burke said. "It's another instance of teachers giving up things to help the superintendents to work within their cost constraints."

A spokesman for Anthem didn't respond to calls requesting comment on the Benefits Trust plan.

Michael Cormier, superintendent of the Farmington-based Mount Blue Regional School District, called the 2 percent premium increase "good news."

"Obviously, people are cognizant of the times and are trying to keep the costs down," he said.

For the Mt. Blue district, Cormier said, any savings administrators can find mean there will be less to cut or less "you've got to ask the taxpayers to help with."

The Benefits Trust insurance plans have come under scrutiny this legislative session as a handful of legislators have sought to make it easier for school districts to insure their teachers under alternative plans.

The state Legislature's administrative body on Feb. 25 rejected one of those proposals, from Rep. Ralph Sarty, R-Denmark. The bill would have required the Benefits Trust and Anthem to release health insurance data specific to school districts upon request if they were searching for new health insurance options.

"With the state budget cuts and the huge cut to public education funding, a lot of superintendents and school boards have been interested in alternative options when it comes to health care insurance," Sarty said. "We've got to open the market."

Burke said a handful of school districts that have withdrawn from the Benefits Trust have found it more expensive to insure their teachers outside the trust.

"The larger the plan, the better off you are," she said.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com