April 30, 2024 |
Photo – WEBT logo – Courtesy webt.org
In Rawlins, city officials are considering changing city employee health insurance plans.
On April 18th, the Rawlins city council and City Manager Tom Sarvey met to review the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2024 through 2025. Sarvey and the council discussed a potentially better method to provide city employees with health insurance.
City Manager Sarvey said currently, the city of Rawlins covers all employee medical costs. City workers pay their health insurance premiums directly into a 3rd party managed fund. In a self-funded health care system, the city is responsible for paying the entirety of medical claims, said Sarvey.
Sarvey said he monitors the claim payment fund to ensure the city isn’t putting out more money than it collects from premiums. The city manager said in the past, the fund always contained enough money to pay the medical expenses of employees. However, Sarvey said in the past fiscal year, the fund was $177,000 short.
Sarvey said he decided to seek out an alternative health insurance program. The city manager said he received a quote from the Wyoming Educators Benefit Trust, or WEBT. Sarvey said using WEBT to cover all 106 city employees will save roughly $334,000 over the current, self-funded, system.
According to the Wyoming Educators Benefit Trust website, WEBT was created in 1971 to pool the health benefits risk of public educational entities, cities, counties, special districts, and publicly funded employers.
Through the city’s current system, single employees must pay a $1,000 deductible for in-network coverage and $2,000 for out-of-network. WEBT offers three plans with differing deductibles: $1,500, $2,500, and $3,500. Sarvey said while the deductibles are higher with WEBT, out-of-pocket expenses are lower.
Sarvey said employees who don’t hit the out-of-pocket limit benefit from the lower deductible of the current system. However, workers who do pay out-of-pocket would see significant savings using the Wyoming Educators Benefit Trust. Sarvey said the council must decide if a lower deductible is better than lower out-of-pocket expenses.
Mayor Terry Weickum said employees would need to be able to tell the future to know which plan will benefit them more.
Councilman Darril Garner asked if the money saved by using WEBT could be used to help offset the increased deductible amounts. City Manager Sarvey instead proposed using the $334,000 savings to pay the entire cost to insure the employees who choose the $2,500 and $3,500 deductible plans. Additionally, Sarvey said the city could set up a health savings account, or HSA, for workers who select the highest deductible plan.
A health savings account can be used to cover the cost of expensive medical care for employees who select the higher deductible health plan.
Sarvey said city workers will need to financially contribute towards the $1,500 deductible plan. Single employees will have to pay $31 a month towards WEBT insurance coverage, while a family plan will cost $199 a month.
Sarvey said he will meet with the city’s health insurance committee to further discuss the potential move to the Wyoming Educators Benefit Trust and bring a recommendation to the council at a later date.
