001If it's equal or better. What? I think you know what? I just printed out the calendar for you. Yes. Oh, and I They're coming in. Yeah. Well, while you're up there, can I borrow that list? I think so. We could end up saving some money. Um Especially if we're going to be making cuts in the You guys don't think this is It is. Yeah, we could come up with our moving allowance. Well, I just looked at this. I mean the the last thing you want to do is I think that's You walk in there. There. No. So, Do you guys think I think we're going to All right. Maybe we can talk to No, but like So, the first Do you want to make Well, I think that's what made it better. The the transformation
002The outside doesn't look like the inside. You can I'm sure you could I'm sure you Yeah, I got it. Do your pricing. I'll pass on that dream. Yeah. That's cool. So, Ryan reduced his hours. Cuz we both do the same thing. Yay! Good. All right. They took a I think that's actually what I saw in the back. I think it's actually a lot We still save money. All right. I like that. But Right. So, did you get a London. Thank you. I was thinking of a good kitchen. The decent size I don't have any experience at all. I could I could do that. Can we really do that? Make sure. I To a big extent, but Thank you. Yep. Okay. Call me later. That's my question. Can we go to the Okay, well I'll call
003the special board meeting of the board to order. Pledge allegiance. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please, Colleen. Yep. Black Here. Calhoun Here. Hinrich Here. Husman Here. Kirsch Here. Long Here. Swenson Here. Valu Here. Zimmerman Here. We have a quorum. So, entertain to a motion to adopt the agendas presented. Second, please. Motion a second to adopt the agendas presented. Any discussion, changes, deletions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Okay, thank you. Next item is to approve the resignation of Scott Sherman. Yes. Uh high school Spanish teacher. Uh So, any discussion, anything you need to bring up on that? No. Okay. It's
004not effective at the end of this Correct. Okay, so I'd entertain a motion to approve that resignation. So moved, Calhoun. Second. Kirsch Motion a second to approve the resignation of Scott Sherman as high school Spanish teacher. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Item seven, discuss action taken at the April 14th, 2026 regarding security health plan insurance plan options for the 2026-2027 school year. Uh so, I'm going to kind of just open it up to the floor. Uh I know it Deb Uh I'd like you to present what your feeling is. Sure. And then I'll ask Shar if you would present >> That's fine. just from the personnel committee. So, then anybody can jump in. Okay, Shar. Deb, you were going first. Okay. Yeah.
005I thought you said Shar. Shar can go. Then I'll let let Shar go. Okay. Okay. I just felt the board didn't have enough information and any discussion to make an informed decision. I felt the option three was just too severe. Uh and I wanted to know more about what we can afford, what I worry about like retention for the teachers. Um I just felt we needed to bring it back and look at it a little further. Um I think that's about it. I And Deb and I have talked Yep. >> after this was scheduled. Um and and I will say that I agree with her. There was some very quick meetings that were held Uh-huh. um under not the greatest circumstances from a communication viewpoint. Um I know I for one uh misunderstood a statement
006that was made um in which the employee portion, my understanding was the employee portion was going up $70 a month. So in the course of a year you know, that would have amounted to about $800, which hence in my mind I said, well, what's a $1,000 warning deductible then, right? Put the money in the bank, right? So that was clarified since then. Um Wendell and I also met. I had some additional questions and information that I requested from him for everybody because I think we need to look at the whole picture. Um so hence hence we're back. Okay. All right, then I guess just as I look at it and I just had a discussion with Jeffrey and Wendell, too. Uh I'm used to a different setup, okay? And that's kind of how I was
007looking at it when we were talking about it. 90/10 plan, 80/20 plan, and so on and so forth. Uh that that's my own fault. Uh I I not blaming anybody. Uh I just didn't look into it as much as I should have. Uh my understanding and Jeffrey help me if I needed or if you want to I'm sorry I can't even remember. Corey Corey, yeah, thank you. I don't I can't remember my own name half the time and so thanks for it. Uh jump in if I when I screw it up. All right, so whatever the plan is present, future, whatever. If it's a 90/10 plan and you've got a $2,000 $4,000 deductible just throw it out there, okay? What that means is that uh if you go to the doctor, whatever it happens to
008be that you're going to pay that up that $2,000. Okay? After that as an individual then you would pay 90/10 until you reach the max. And if it's 2/4 that would be four to my Yes. >> Yes, so that's correct. So after the deduct So everything will stay the same on the deductible as it is today on that 2,000/4,000 plan. If someone hits that deductible amount, then they would continue to pay 10% of any future claims up until an additional $1,000 so for a $3,000 total out of pocket for an individual, double that for family. Right. Um and keep in mind that today you do have additional costs after deductible, it's just for those pharmacy co-pays which will be on a 30/60 type of co-pay structure. Those would still be there, so it'll be a
009combination of any pharmacy co-pays you pay after deductible plus 10% of any medical bills up to that same maximum that's out today. So pharmacy does not go towards your medical deductibles, correct? It does. >> It does. It does. But once you hit your deductible, pharmacy prescriptions then change to a co-pay. Okay. So it applies towards It does apply towards both. Okay. Correct. preventative care is is covered in full. Yes. Yes. Preventative care Preventative care is covered just like it is today, so there's no change to that. Just keep in mind if they're having mammograms, colonoscopies, and they need additional services, those are diagnostic and not covered at 100% correct. But then that applies towards the deductible and the percentage that applies. Okay, it's just it's a different plan that I'm used to. Okay. Uh whatever
010the whatever it's different. Okay. So I I'm learning about it a little bit, too. So I just want to explain that to you when I ask some questions or letting you know at the beginning with well I didn't. So anyway. Okay. So is this everybody understand that? I mean is anybody before we even go any further does everybody understand that? Just And these are all Security Health Plans we're looking at through Security Health, no other vendor? Just Security Health Plan. It's just Security Health Plan. Okay. Do we have another vendor right now? Not this year we didn't we had a rate cap with Security Health Plan. We looked at them last year and we're we actually Security Health Plan came in way over the rate cap because of claims were way above that, so that
011rate cap actually saved us to be well below market of where we would have been. So that that's the reason we didn't market it this year. Next year it's going to be marketed um ahead of time because we don't have that rate cap long in the year third year. And what does their network look like Cory for for teachers for options in terms of where they get to look I just cuz I'm not familiar with it. Is it Aspirus and Marshfield Clinic? Technically has two different networks that they can offer to employees. Okay. I think 99% 100% are in the premier network which is Security Health Plan's standard network. Um that's going to have Marshfield Clinic, Aspirus, most of your ancillary providers So they can choose between the two basically. Behind there is another option
012if employees really wanted it, but what that option is is at a lower rate, but it only is a maximum Marshall clinic heart hospital virus. So, that's why we didn't have much interest in it so far. >> No, I just want to make sure they had access to both. Well, that's next year will be the same. Next year will be the same unless we market the plan out together, and then we'd be looking at different carriers that have little different network plans. But, if we approve one of these plans, then we'll be correct to Yeah. Okay. And? I was just wondering if Trish understands our consortium. Do you understand what we're in for insurance right now? And if you could briefly Can you just briefly Is Isn't it a group of Yeah, so it's it's
013a group of 13 different school districts. And the reason that was started many years ago was we started to see some pretty heavy volatility in each different renewal cycle. So, these schools all band together. Each school can pick different plan designs within a carrier. They can also manage their own contribution strategy, how you want to handle HSA contributions, some use reimbursements. So, the school districts each can make a lot of those decisions independently, but they ultimately agree on the same carrier each year, and then they get rates for each plan. So, Tomahawk pays the same rates for the plan design that Stratford plays at. You know, all these different schools pay. So, it's really a cooperative to leverage volume and get better pricing. And it's it's worked out very well because the school districts face
014We used to see pretty insulated renewals in a lot of ways. We've lost a lot of carriers in this space. WEA is no longer available. Humana is out of the market, and some others. So, we've actually seen a lot of this This 7-1 has been really hard for schools. We've seen We've had multiple schools over 50% renewals for different things. So, it's It can be really difficult. So, the cooperative network has worked very well, and we have about eight or nine different co-ops across the state that we do in this arrangement, as well. When did that co-op start? I knew you were going to ask, and I can't remember. I think 17 or 18. Yeah. Goodness. A lot. It's It's It's been almost 10 years. I was thinking. Um how many of uh schools in
01513 um have continued on with the current program plans that they have? On this renewal? Yes. So, we have a mix. Um I would say the lion's share are going to a 90% option on the same plan that they're at today. Some have chosen the 80. We have a couple that have stayed in the same. No one's really moved um off deductibles, though. Most have taken advantage of that co-insurance uh because the the numbers just make a lot of sense, you know, you're looking at 12% and you can immediately drop it in half to around 6% by adding that co-insurance piece. That's what a lot did. Um and then most school districts that we're talking to or presenting to are just wanting to take more of an incremental approach to handle premium versus taking dramatics
016because we always look at it as it's really easy to look at the savings and make drastic plan design changes. Um and some districts are in financial situations where they need to do that. Um but we also Every district has their own value to acquisition and retention. So, that has to be applied into those decisions, too, and and we know it could be a competitive environment out there from from one district to the next. So, those are things that have to be taken into account with these decisions. So, Corey, I have a I have a question on the increases over the last couple years. I'm just looking at the last 5 years. We had a $70,000 premium increase of $77,000 in 2023-2024. It was $36,000 last or 25 uh and in policy period ending 25
017jumped up 357,000 dollars. And then this last one is at 208993. So in a 2-year period we went up over half a million dollars in our premium. Can can we attribute that to something? Well, we can attribute it to a lot of things, but primarily it is the health insurance market and the claims that we're So it's not related to our district, it's not related to loss ratio. It it is related to loss ratio. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And and we track that, so when when we have our meetings with the cooperative members, we provide the claims information, and then we do loss We do claims information and loss ratios as a group and then as individual districts, so that everyone can track that and see that over time. And I know that I had asked
018that was one of the questions I had asked when we're at 91% if I remember correctly. And so what is the consortium as a whole at? Um the consortium as a whole has bounced um I think right now the overall was at around 96 or so, but we've seen this the school district consortium seems to run anywhere from around 95 to 110, you know, any year and year out over time, which is you know, unfortunately pretty typical in the school district space. We usually see a little bit larger loss ratios than we do in the private sector market. Okay, any questions about the plans in general? Anything that we're talking about? Type, that kind of stuff. Okay. Uh Jeffrey, would you mind explain Go ahead. >> Can I ask one more question? >> Yeah. And
019I know that it's we don't have the time to look at it right now for this coming year, but just a overall question, do you have some districts that are offering cafeterias type plans? In other words, uh you know, a bronze, a silver, and a gold plan and picking three plans and employees can choose from them. We don't have many. We have some that have two. But, two's about the max that we see with school districts. But, you have the ability within the consortium. Correct. Okay. You have it. Yes, we have it here. We just have nobody on the We just have nobody There's nobody choosing that because then you wouldn't Cuz then you'd tell me it's expensive. Right. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, Jeffrey, I I want you to explain the present plan. Just
020the deductible, the co-in- whatever. Yeah, so right now we have a single 2,000, family 4,000 deductible. Uh with no co-insurance. So, you meet your deductible, you only pay your prescription up to the out-of-pocket max, which right now it's 3,000 for single, 6,000 for a family. So, you're only going to get that if you put prescription charges. Um For everything and um brand name is covered 100%. So, that's our plan right now. It's very common. You spend $2,000 in medical claims, then you don't have prescriptions to worry about or 4,000 for a family. Okay, so if I'm understanding you right, once you meet your deductible, okay, uh for the family, then you don't pay anything. You only pay the prescription co-pays. Right. >> Up to the out-of-pocket max. So, you don't pay any medical bills, none
021of that. Only prescription charges. Okay. Okay, so there's no 90/10, No. whatever. Okay? So, everyone understand that? How that works? Perfect. Good. You would. Okay. Uh okay. Uh, then Shara, would you explain what the what we voted on the last time? >> So, what we voted on the last time was raising the was option three. So, we would raise the deductible to 3,000 for a single and 6,000 for a family and then do an 80/20 co-insurance, which would mean employees would be responsible after they meet their deductible for 20% of their medical bills up to that next $1,000 mark of 4,000. So, their out-of-pocket max essentially would be $4,000 for a single and 8,000 for a family. That reduced the overall impact to the school district down to 1.13%. As compared to Uh, if we
022kept what we currently have. >> Right. If we keep what we currently have, we will have a 12% increase. So, $376,222.32 compared to $35,276.04. So, you know, simply looking at it from an annual basis, the significant increase in savings to the district as a whole. What is our budget allowed for? So, we forecasted out. In fact, we have that those numbers for you in a I think one of the attachments that I put in there called health insurance increases. So, it's attached to the There's a link that you'll have to copy and paste in there for some reason it didn't come, but this is an actual attachment I put in. So, it's called health insurance increases. Um, and if you look, we have that number budgeted out over the length of our current referendum. So,
023we budgeted at a a 10% increase annually. And that did come up in our conversations, you know, and you know, bottom line is just because we budgeted it doesn't mean that you got to spend >> just that's I was just curious. >> Well, um but we were looking at least for me it was the outcome of the last referendum that was done here in April. Um to me says a lot about where some of our taxpayers are at. Um and knowing that in order to maintain what we have, we have to pass another referendum. You know, I think it's essential that we you know, that that we look closely at what we're what we're spending our money in and if there's a way to spend it differently or do it differently or do it smarter,
024I think that that is something that we have to consider. Many of these plans allow for an HSA for Yeah. They're all HSA. >> They're all available. They're all HSA. Okay. And do we as a district contribute anything to the HSA? We do. We do. Yeah, so on on that one spreadsheet it's broken out by um levels. We do it quarterly. The one you have to paste the link to. >> um so teachers and support staff get different amounts. Okay. Um so single teacher gets about $500. Um family per teacher gets $3,000. Support staff single gets $1,050. And then family support staff gets $3,500 annually paid into the HSA. Okay. Uh Corey, let me ask you this question. If uh if you look at one side of things as the uh co-insurance 90/10 80/ 20
025whatever, look at that. And then you look at the deductible. Okay, cuz that's the two things that we're we're looking at. And in general, okay. Where is the biggest uh savings uh to the to the district? Is Is it Is it changing the the co-insurance or is it changing the deductible? Or is it equal? Changing the co-insurance will give you a bigger bang for the buck um on that. So, when we look at different rates, um a lot of times keeping the 2,000 4,000 deductible with either the 80 or 90% co-insurance to that annual max, a lot of times it's priced at or below just moving to a 3,000 6,000 dollar deductible plan with no co-insurance. Okay. Okay. Underwriters at health insurance companies really like people to be invested through a longer term claim. Sure.
026So, what they want is someone not to say I blew through my 4,000 dollar deductible. Now I'm just going to make health care choice that are easy and not think through that. When you add co-insurance, so when you when you just take the the current 2,000 4,000 plan and look at the 90 10% co-insurance, for an employee single employee to hit that 4,000 dollars additional cost, they need 10,000 dollars in claims after meeting their deductible. So, not a lot of your employees are going to hit that. Um it's hard for those that do, but they know that those employees, the longer that they're invested in that, the more they seem to search to be better consumers of health care. Okay. And that's why the underwriters like it from that perspective. They give a lot of
027weight to it. Okay. Okay. Okay, it's uh I guess the only the only thing that I would ask is uh Jeffrey, can you tell us what is the cost to a family? Forget the individual. Yeah. What does it cost to the family on an annual basis With the current plan, for a family a family will pay $3,770.92 in premiums annually. Annually. Okay. If under the uh option three, what would that cost be to the family? $3,821.40. Okay, so it's the difference is uh less than 100 bucks. Correct. The premium cost is less than 100 bucks either plan. For the premium. Now, what's the difference is the out-of-pocket, and yes. What is the out-of-pocket goes out? The difference out-of-pocket for a family at the current family would be $10,232.40. And under option three, it's almost 2,000
028more, 11,821.40. Thank you. Okay. I I just want everybody to know to get the numbers. That's how I work. I need numbers to to think things out. Any other comments, questions? I just think we have to make sure that you're comparing those numbers to the difference in the cost to the school district. Okay, what's the difference in the cost to the school district then? Well, $335,000 a year. Okay. That's the difference. That's what we're That's what we're talking about. Basically. As I see it. Okay. Do we know what we're looking at in comparison to other districts that we would be competing against in terms of retention of teachers? >> That's where you would have to give us that information. You don't know what the districts >> That's why I asked I'm just I mean I
029know you said like straight I'm talking about locally. Do Are any of them within the consortium that are like Lakeland, Rhinelander, somebody that Merrill that we would be directly comparison to losing teachers over? Not the close adjacent districts. We can get all that information. Um we have a lot of those, um but I don't I don't have that. >> Okay. I just I mean that's what we're worried about long term. I mean this I mean these are We're also worried about it on the front end, too. Right. Attracting teachers. Right. So, I mean when you're presenting somebody a teacher to recruit but ultimately we're worried about keeping our teachers. And keeping good teachers. And we have to remember, too, this is a benefit for the teachers. We can't offer the most outstanding salaries. We try.
030We keep them up there as the best that we can, but this is also a benefit outside of that for these teachers. Um that is really important for teachers. I was just kidding. Wendell, can you I mean Have you Is there a recommendation that you can make on a plan or is this It's hard to say. I think what you make here is That would be a conflict of interest. Well, ask the person that directs our district in without I will honestly tell you and I and I know Kevin and I and I'm sure Ron agree on this that Wendell and and Jeffrey have been very um What's the word? >> Neutral. Neutral. in all of these discussions. Um you know, not making a recommendation and and I think we're all appreciative of that. Um
031You know, Corey, I quick question. When do you have to have an answer by? We were our our initial deadline was May 1st. Um there's wiggle on that, but what we want to do is because you are part of a group, the renewal isn't completed until every district sends in their their final paperwork on which plans they want. So, we were initially shooting for May 1st. Um if they ask to push a little bit further, we have a little bit of wiggle room there. So, tell us what a little bit further looks like. I've not seen July. I've not seen July 21st. I want to push it out to the first week of May if at all possible. Uh before we move too far off of Ann's question, cuz I think it's an health question.
032While I don't want to put Wendell on the spot or Jeffrey by not saying what plan you think you should go with. I I did want him to say the plan. I I I'm not I'm not bashing the question at all. Don't get me wrong. You have you know, between the two of you and Colleen, you guys have to some degree the pulse of the staff. How is it going to be received by the staff? You know, what what are I mean, that's that's I suppose that's the reaction that you're trying to kind of gauge. I want Yeah, this is our Sure. It's going to be a of high priority to staff. It's going to be an important hotbed topic and I think the one thing I will say to the board is for consideration,
033right? Cuz you have two things to consider. One, what the district wants to invest financially into this plan, but two, every decision that we make, especially in this regard, carries a deeper level level of communication, right? Because staff are going to look at it from the standpoint of how much are you willing to invest in me? How valuable am I? How valuable are the things that I care about? So, that's something we do have to consider because there will be a financial impact depending on where in this spectrum things are, but I think that's equally important to think about as you go through. But, I would say yes, it's a uh traditionally, insurance has been a high priority to people in education. Um Mr. Boyd, could you repeat the answer of what you're seeing other
034districts doing? Are they moving into a co-insurance? Is that what your answer was? The majority of them have moved into this year. Um but, we originally brought the 80% option, and that brought a significant premium reduction. Then, we had some districts come back after our meeting uh that we had with the pool members, and then the 90% option was requested. Um and I was actually surprised the 90% wasn't closer than in between the two. Um that we actually still had it pretty competitively priced against the 80%. So, I think um a a good majority of the districts are going to go with the 90% option. Um like I said, a couple have taken the 80, a couple are staying the same, um but we haven't had any make significant jumps in the deductible. How does
035everybody feel about maybe doing one or the other? Like, either raising the deductible or adding the co-insurance. What is What is that option feel like to the group? Before Before we If you don't mind, Sharon, before I have a a to speak my piece, I just want throw it out there. I am in agreement with what Anna said. I want to reiterate the fact that one of our curriculum one of the one of our pillars is to be a district of choice for students, for staff, for everybody. And I think that we made a great a great stride in solidifying the fact that we value that pillar with the salary adjustments we're making this year that we can attract young teachers and we can bring in people in the district. The thing I don't want
036to see us do is offset that goodwill and that let's be honest 100% eliminated the goodwill that we might have curried with that by choosing the wrong plan. I think it's critically important that I I I I absolutely think that we swung too hard um with the option three and getting back to answering your question um one or the other? Yes, one or the other, not both, right? Either the co-insurance or the deductible, pick one, move forward. Um I think that it should be one of those and I'm looking a lot closer to this option 17 that are on our table. Um respecting your your point Char about we need to be responsible to the community, the taxpayers, absolutely 100%. Well, I But we don't want to do it on the back of our teachers
037either. I I understand. I do and that was one of the part of the conversations that we have is that we have done uh raises consistently for 4 years now. Yeah. Consistently, nice raises. Yeah. And you're right, I don't want to take that away from it that either. However, we also cannot sustain continued health insurance premiums increases of two and three hundred thousand dollars a year. That's a reality. And that's a hard reality to face. Okay. But it's a reality. We'll be having the same discussion again next year. Yeah. Well, and I think unfortunately, you look at health care and it's going to continue, which is exactly what which is kind of why we ended up in option three because you said, "Oh, well, we just rip the mandate out at one time Right. and
038not have to go through it 2 years in a row." So, can I And I I just want to interject one thing. Typically, the timeline and Corey, you know this better than me, but typically, the timeline and us knowing what the projections are for our health insurance is somewhere in February or early March, correct? Usually, it's on March 1st is when >> going over our HP or something like that, but but because we were so new with security, it took a little longer for them to know what that where we would be with that 12%. We were a little late in getting those numbers this year than than previous years. >> Yeah, it always takes us a little longer anytime we change and we're with a new carrier. Technically, they're working with around 6 months
039of data when they calculate their renewal. The underwriters are a little bit more skittish on presenting that early versus if they've had a group for a year, 2 and 1/2 better data to work with. So, it is a little bit later when it's a new carrier that you're with. So, looking forward in the next year and in whenever it's possible to do that, um I think it would be wise to continue which what we've done this in the past as well, but to have our insurance to have a good ballpark in knowing what our benefits are going to cost or what our insurance increase is going to be as we're talking about what our compensation increase is going to be as well. And we have those two conversations. It just didn't work out like that
040this year because of the timing, um but I would anticipate, you know, moving into the next year, especially if we if we put it out, we're going to probably have I mean, we can push back to on when we're when we start talking about staff pay increases as well, but we'll we'll time the two together. Okay. Um Yeah, the RFP would go out in January of next year. >> I agree with you. I don't want to take away somebody's wage One But, the flipside is you used that exactly what I said. These rates or somebody just said it. These health insurance rate increases aren't going away. No. Right. So, it's a reality that we're going to have to face. But it's But it's one that we can we can face We can phase it in
041and I and I would agree with that. And that's what I would agree with to phase it in. Don't go so drastic. Can you speak Wendell to what we can afford knowing the budget and So, yeah, the number the straight-up numbers that we budgeted refer back to the attachment that I talked about for next year we're looking at uh 26 27 10% would have been roughly Give me these are ballparks. These are anticipated. $303,455.60 is what's in our forecast model. So, if you went with any of these other plans besides that initial one, you're coming in well under that number. That's what I was thinking, too. I think I think referendum they're here to stay. But I can't I just can't see cutting I didn't say Yep. Teachers. I didn't and losing them and having
042them cuz they've made great strides with the culture here, too. More work to do, probably, but But realistically, if we fail a referendum and we're looking at making budget cuts, insurance is going to be high on the list, right? Switching to a plan that Okay. Any other comments, questions, concerns? Okay, here's what we can do. But I want it done today. I don't want to wait. Me, too. Okay. We would need a need to to take a motion, second, and vote to rescind the uh uh previous agreement item, okay? But then, with that rescinded, we need to discuss then what to do next. What do we do with the co-insurance? What do we do with the with the deductibles? And get a plan. Okay? And we can have that discussion. But we need to do
043that. Is everybody okay? >> like there to be specific language for the benefits if you have them. I will make a motion to rescind the agenda item that was approved on April 14th, which states approved the security health plan for the 2026-2027 school year, which was approved at the regular meeting on April 14th, 2026. Second the motion. Second. Seconded. Okay, thank you. Uh I have a motion and a second to uh rescind the uh motion made in on April 14th, 2026 with security health plans for 2026-2027 school year. Uh do we need to roll call on that? No. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, motion carries. Great. Thank you. Okay, now we got to figure out which way we want to go. Uh I guess we're kind of looking at Does
044anyone have this sheet? Okay. Uh so we scratch off the last one. And in my mind, we scratch off the first one. So we're looking at four. current plan Yes. Thank you. So we're looking at option 17, six plan option 14. That's kind of what we're looking at. I guess, you know, and what Char was asking, I don't want to put words in your mouth, Char, but do we want to look at just one or the other rather doing both? Do we want to just do the uh You're not putting words, that's exactly what I was asking. Okay. Do we want to look at at doing uh the uh uh deductible? Just changing just the deductible? Or just changing the co-insurance? I would be in favor of changing the co-insurance and not the deductible. Okay.
045>> And these are all embedded, I believe, where they can go anywhere. Well, so we're effectively eliminating option 14 also. So, it's 17, 6, and then that third column which is kind of weird. Plan 501 which is something. Right. Because 14 doesn't meet any criteria. It's interchangeable, right? Okay. >> They're all changed. But my question is then in option 17 uh maybe this is Corey, this is for you, too. In option 17 uh I'm part of a family, but as an individual I spent spent I I meet the uh deductible 2,000. So, now I would go under the 90/10. If you're on a family plan. If you're on single you're talking single. No, I'm option 17. Option 17. No, this was something that with our discussion I didn't think you had right before. So, I'm
046glad you're asking. >> Okay. Yeah, no. Single and family works differently. So, single it's the $2,000 then it goes to 10% co-insurance to the 3,000. Okay. Family it's a $4,000 deductible then $2,000 of co-insurance to the $6,000 max. >> Okay. Okay. Regardless of the person or home. Yeah, it's not an embedded deductible meaning there's no individual caps within the family. Um this plan falls under IRS for HSAs and you'd have to increase your deductible up to about 3,400 for single, 6,600 for family to get to embedded deductibles with an HSA plan. Okay. So, in in option 17, uh the family would be at 4,000. Right. Okay. So, if I as an individual spent 2,000 for some medical procedure I had to have done. The we're still we have we still have to meet meet the
0474,000. Cuz you're a member of the family. Cuz you're Okay. >> Because you have a family plan. Right. Right. Okay. All right. Once we've met the 4,000, now what? Then everybody's future medical claims, you pay them at 10% until you hit that additional $2,000. >> So, you hit 6,000. >> Correct. Okay. So, in my mind, what it Forget the uh premium. In my mind, as a family, the maximum I would have to spend as coinsurance is 6,000. Well, >> and deductible 6,000. Combined coinsurance and deductible. Is 6,000. Yeah. >> Yeah, but but you're not going to exceed paying $6,000 a year. No, I'm I'm Yeah. But that's the max. >> That's the max. That's the max. >> Not including what your premium is. Yes. Okay. Okay. Where in the plan 501542, where it's 68, the
048maximum I would spend is eight. Correct. As a family. Correct. Is that correct? Correct. But in in the plan 501542, you pay everything till you meet your deductible, and then it goes back to just that pharmacy copay model after deductible. So, to hit that 6,000 or 8,000 would be a significant amount of copays after meeting your deductible. So, you probably never hit that 8,000 unless you really have some expensive prescriptions. >> Right. Yeah, that's prescriptions. The prescriptions are the ones that are Yeah, I think the 100% after deductible is is at least in my mind is not something we should be considering. Okay. I agree. Are we in agree 100% after deductible should be crossed off our list? Gone. So we're down to 17 and 6, We're down to 14, 6, and 17. Well, but
049but no, 14 14 we're not because that doesn't meet our criteria. Yeah. Cuz that's that's an increase of deductible and a copay. Well, all of these are increases of deductible and copays. Uh-huh. No, so we're not >> Well, yes, correct. You're right. You're right. Okay, I'm Okay, I'm following you. 17 and 6 are all we're considering at this point. >> Okay, you are correct. So really the decision is now down to what we want 90/10 or 80/20. That's Right? What I don't want to put words in your mouth. If you look at the cost >> You If we are looking at coinsurance Mhm. only and not looking at deductible, correct? >> Yeah. Which is I don't think that's I don't >> Well, that was the way this discussion was headed is that we were looking
050at coinsurance. Well, we're looking at but but that was your point. Either it's coinsurance or deductible, we're not going to change both of them in one year. Correct. >> Okay. So 14's off the table. We're good. Okay. I think we're on the same page. >> Okay, so making sure I don't want >> We're fine. All right, so 17 or 6. So let's 80/90/10 or 80/20. That's basically what we're deciding on. Yes. I mean So what's I don't know if I'm wrong in that statement. Anybody's No. So the difference to me between option 17 and option 6 is you're more likely, whether you do or not, you're more likely to reach the $6,000 max in 80/20 than you are in 90/10. Correct. Correct? Correct. Right. Okay. I got that one right. Good job, Brian. >> Yeah,
051I mean And if you look at the difference in what the district is paying? What Randall said 300,000 300,000 300,000 >> 303 Yeah, 100% >> we're under for both of them. For what was budgeted, what was projected. So It was 338, I'm sorry. 338 Yeah, 330. And last year's increase was 379. Oh, sorry. Total for the year 379 Yeah, for this 2914661. So we're down a little bit. I think in this first year making a change starting just moving the numbers So, we're not I don't think we need to go that fast. We're going to be able to continue this trend if we need to going forward. I do. Yeah, I do think that we're going to need to probably look at it again as years come up because I don't think that those kinds
052of increases are sustainable. Going long term. And I like the idea of like looking at the health insurance same time as raises. And you can defend that. Yeah, you can. >> Easy, I think. You know, that's where tough decisions need to be made on how much you want to keep in benefits versus how much your salary goes up. Well, and can we do Are you allowed to do Or you might know this. Can you do single year HSA contributions like one-time contributions? HSA's are at the discretion of the district. >> Totally at your discretion. So, it's not something you have to do every year. You know, so It's Is there that we can >> It's an option, too. Yeah. Offset right? For for at least the first year, maybe cushion the blow a little bit.
053And the HSA isn't always high deductible plan than the HSA. They do. Yeah, so keep the HSA. Oh, absolutely. What I'm saying is when Cuz at some point you're going to have to raise that deductible. Yeah. And what I'm saying and that's why I asked if we can do that. There, you know, offset it put that $1,000 that we're increasing the deductible add an extra $1,000 that one year right? To offset and cushion that you know, that change, which helps people time helps people absorb things, right? That's the reality of it. Yeah, that is an option. You say that again, Sharon? So, we're not doing that this year, but let's say next year Okay. that these prices came back with another 10 or 12 or 15% increase. Okay. And we decided next year we have
054to also increase the Next year we have to increase the deductible. Mhm. If we wanted to next year, when we or whatever year we increase that deductible Okay. we could essentially put $1,000 in each employee's HSA I got you. to offset and cushion that blow a little bit. a little bit. I got you. Cuz you know that everybody's going to complain. Because I guess the one thing everybody's got to remember is that when you're paying a premium in insurance, you're never going to get that money back. You're never going to get that money back. No. That's what I was just saying. With an HSA you know >> With an HSA, you know, I mean, honest to God, we had this conversation. We're like, "Well, how else can we do this where we can shift these
055funds to the employees without setting something up um you know, that's necessarily permanently has to happen every year, right? Because in all honesty, to rip the band-aid off here and go with the option three, which we said we're not doing, which is fine. But if you did that, rip the band-aid off, do it, save the district $300,000, right? Right? But then took a portion of that and put it in HSAs for the employees. Essentially, you're giving it back to them. And you're still valuing your employees. But you're not paying it out in a premium to an insurance company that you're never going to get it back. And that's the one thing about insurance, and I sell it, you guys. So, that's the advantage of having higher deductibles is that you are never going to get
056back an insurance premium that you paid. That's the reality. Corey, what um what what HSA do they use through Security? Like what company? Is it like Optum? Is it So, they can use whatever they want. I'm just curious so like Aspirus like got rid of it and Aspirus went to doing the same thing and they're doing So, I was just curious. Okay. I was just curious cuz it's harder than heck for the employees to get their money, like to be able to use it. So, I was just curious if it was dictated or not. Okay. So, I guess I would just throw that out there for future discussion. But essentially, what I I just really think that keeping the money with the district and investing it in the staff versus insurance premiums makes more sense.
057>> I agree. I agree totally. Corey, would you have any kind of anticipation on how long that RFP process would take? If we go in January, is it Is it realistic in March we could be having these conversations and have some of We probably wouldn't have this agreed health plan finally go until March 15th. It's usually we always push for March 1st and it's usually seems to be around March 15th when carriers give it to us. But, we'll have a lot of really good intel prior to that because everyone who's bidding on your business will get us numbers much quicker than the incumbent. That's just how it always works. So, we'll have a pretty good idea of the appetite Okay. for for the group and where the competition is because, you know, as we do
058this every time we leverage marketing to either find a better offer or leverage the carrier that with to bring their renewal down. So, Okay. that's that's where we can really tell. But, yeah, I'm I'm guessing we'd have a a decent idea mid-to-late February and then we'd have the actual renewal secured by mid-March. Colleen, can you just make a note and we can talk about it? We won't even talk about We won't The April meeting is where we'll do compensation. We'll bring a proposal to the board for the compensation. Okay. So, I think in in the past we've done February, March. We'll just make sure we push it all to April. Yeah. And then okay. I think this is where we also need to make sure that the staff knows that too. Yeah. You know, we
059don't want them waiting around and right. or something. Right. Okay, so >> we do this HSA at any time? Or is that What's the timing on that? Your contribution? You can make changes to that anytime. You just want to be a little careful that you don't mess up your individuals cuz they have to make sure that they're not over funding it in any given year. So, you have to be a little careful on that from the tax standpoint, but you can really make that change at any time. You're not locked into it or any of your other benefits that are locked in for decisions annually. HSA is one that can be changed throughout the year. And they can make changes They can contribute themselves also. >> Yes. And if you max out your >> So
060if you were to If you were to say, "We're going to give every employee period, just employee, regardless of if if they have the family plan or the employee plan, $1,000 for their HSA." And I'm just pulling a number out of my head, right? And then you went with, say, option 14. And go with a 90/10 with the deductible of three and four. How does that feel? I don't like giving any every employee the exact same, because right now a single employee getting the same as a family, you're right there building animosity. Why did I get more than somebody who's got four kids, or three kids, or You know what I mean? So saying every employee gets $1,000, to me, that's But that's not right. That's why it's cheap right now. I understand why it's
061cheap right now. I was just using that as an example, just as a you know. And I would also, like Corey said, if somebody already, for whatever reason, maxed out their contribution, and you give them more, they're going to get penalized for having too much in their HSA. So you really can't do that at this time in the game. We have to give them a notification before we start loading, right? I would think so, cuz we have a lot of people a lot of staff that do do their own contributions. Um But would they be maxed out in April? They could be. They could be. Okay. Cuz I mean, there's some people out there that they get their I don't know if I'm personal they get their tax refund. And they max And they dump
062it in. That's fair. That's a fair statement. Just kind of trying to explore explore options because to me it sure makes all that more sense to be giving it to the employees than to be paying it out in premium. So so Sure I have a good point though. If we're having this discussion in April next year and we're considering another change to another plan we're not going to be able to contribute to the HSA. Then who's the burden at that point because somebody might already be taking out the same amount unless we Well, it would be for the following year. Yeah, so we Yeah. Yeah, it's not a calendar It starts July 1st. Yeah. So we So we'll be okay. Well, so either way we could do We wouldn't have to wait We wouldn't have
063to wait till July 1st. We just have to wait. We wouldn't do it now but we would do it Our contribution's going four times a year. Right, quarterly. Yeah, quarterly. So we would just have to wait until that year period is over. So we would do it for the upcoming year. So I don't know. I I'm I'm still of the opinion I think we should just stick with a minor change for now, let the staff absorb it and really consider your and it's a it's a well-made point the HSA for next year. And I think it would be a great point if we have to change again. Do you know what I mean? Right now let's change a little I'm okay with that. and then say "Hey, but we're going to do this for you."
064I'm absolutely okay with that. I just really want to you know, remind everybody that once that premium is paid out you're never You're not going to see that come back and We don't know that. We don't know. Well, Okay. Are we ready to make a decision? Okay. So right now are we looking at option 17 or option six? Um I'm going to make a motion for option 17. I would second that. Okay. I I have a motion and a second to accept option 17. Any further discussion? We need a roll call vote. Yeah. Please. All right. Thank you for your work on this, guys. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Black. Yes. Hoffman. Yes. Kindred. Yes. Hoffman. Yes. Kirsch. Yep. Long. Abstain. Swensky. Abstain. Valu. Yes. Zimmerman. I'm going to say no. But it
065still passes, I think. Yes, it does. Yep. Okay, good. Okay. Not a problem. Thank you. Awesome. Dealing with this. It's not fun. That's right. I understand. We're moving to executive session. Do I have a motion? Yeah, thank you. Yes. I still move. Second. Motion and a second to go into closed session. Roll call, please. Black. Yes. Hoffman. Yes. Kindred. Yes. Hoffman. Yes. Kirsch. Yep. Long. Yes, sir. Thank you, Cortez. Thanks, guys. Yes. Thank you, Cortez. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Jefferson. Okay, good night.