Hampton City Schools switching health insurance providers in fiscal year 2018

March 23--Hampton City Schools is switching health care providers for employees next school year, an estimated savings of about $600,000 that will go toward providing raises in the proposed fiscal year 2018 budget.

Coverage will switch to Cigna from Anthem, a change that should have minimal service interruptions and still include Riverside, Sentara and Mary Immaculate hospitals, Robbin Ruth, executive director of human resources, told the School Board Wednesday night.

One plan, a consumer-driven health plan, will remain much the same in cost and scope. Two plans with lower out-of-pocket costs will change and are not exactly comparable, Ruth said, but all three provide a range of premiums and expenses to give employees options.

"We had anticipated a $1.4 million increase in our health insurance costs, and that was just at the division level," Ruth told the board. "That would also have filtered down into significant premium increases and also plan design changes for our employees. Those cost pressures were preventing us from focusing on our goal, your goal of improving the compensation that we are able to offer our employees."

In five meetings with employees last week, division staff made presentations detailing the changes. Online and in-person open enrollment begins July 31 and runs through Aug. 25. The new plans take effect Oct. 1.

One big change is in the benefits provided to employees who take part in the division's wellness incentive program. Doing five activities, such as dentist visits and exercising 3,000 minutes, qualified employees for a $50 monthly reduction in health insurance costs or a $500 addition to their health savings accounts, Ruth said.

Next year, participants will save $75 a month or receive an additional $750 in the division in their HSAs.

Currently, about a third of the eligible 2,400 employees are taking part in the wellness initiative, a number that Ruth expects to increase in the new fiscal year.

The proposed Poquoson City Public Schools budget requests $195,000 more from the city to cover costs for teacher raises and more expensive health insurance.

Superintendent Jennifer Parish presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 at a Tuesday evening School Board meeting...

The proposed Poquoson City Public Schools budget requests $195,000 more from the city to cover costs for teacher raises and more expensive health insurance.

Superintendent Jennifer Parish presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 at a Tuesday evening School Board meeting...

"I think it really aligns with the board's goal to ensure to retain and maintain teachers," Chairman Jason Samuels said. "With this cost savings, I'm hoping that's going to be a recruiting tool that you're going to use when you're encouraging teachers and staff to move to Hampton."

Wednesday night's meeting also served as a second public hearing on the proposed FY 2018 budget, during which no one spoke. Last week, three employees talked about what they hoped to see represented in the budget.

The board will vote on the proposed $203.7 million spending plan Wednesday.

Hammond can be reached by phone at 757-247-4951.

Budget at a glance

Proposed FY 2018 operating budget: $203.7 million

Approved FY 2017 operating budget: $200.5 million

Increase: $3.2 million, or 1.6 percent

The proposed budget calls for 2 percent minimum raises for full- and part-time employees, $1 an hour raises for bus drivers and 50 cent an hour raises for maintenance trade employees and technology specialists. The budget also provides funding for the Academies of Hampton. The School Board will vote on the budget March 29.

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