School board discusses possible changes to health insurance plan

By LOUIE DIAZ
editor@sbnewspaper.com

The San Benito CISD School Board held a finance committee meeting on March 2 and discussed possible changes to the school district’s insurance plan.
Superintendent Dr. Nate Carmen presented some of the differences between the TRS-Active Care and the school district’s current insurance plan.
According to Carmen, the State of Texas is estimated to have less revenue this upcoming biennium, so the SBCISD will likely have to cut expenses.
Under the current plan, the expected cost to the school district is about $11,250,713 and $14,064,381 during a high claim year. Carmen explained that under the TRS Active Care plan $6,920,208 is a fixed premium with no other cost to the school district. In the past two years, 2019 and 2020, the SBCISD has spent $11.6 million and $10.4 million respectively under the current self-insured plan.
TRS-Active Care does come with increases in premiums. The employee and spouse premium would cost $703 compared to the current $438.20, employee and children would increase to $309 from $248, and employee and family would increase to $915 from $898.34. However, the insurance deductibles would be reduced by half. The individual deductible would be reduced to $2,500 from $5,000 and the family deductible would decrease to $5,000 from $10,000.
At the end of the presentation, SBCISD Trustee Janie Lopez mentioned that some employees have complained about paying too much out of pocket for medicine under the current plan.

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