Should BOE Members Get Health Insurance?

The Fannin BOE held another tough tension filled meeting on Thursday Aug. 8. The question of night was whether or not the BOE would be getting health insurance for the board; if yes what would the cost be?
With health care and insurance on the rise, how much would it cost the Board to get insurance, especially since just raising the millage. With this in mind, the Fannin BOE faced another hard topic of whether or not to opt in to state insurance. The deadline for the board to make this decision was Aug. 31st.

Two days prior at a work session the board learned that they would have to decide on this topic during their monthly meeting. During the meeting the board looked at last years rates to give them an idea of what they would be if they opted in and took the insurance.

There were two policies that where reviewed. The first was the most popular. It would require the School Board to pay $5384 a year for each member that chose to take the coverage. The second policy would cost around $5900 per member who took coverage. Each of the policies required the employee to pay in as well. This would cost the member $9,000 out of pocket.

So if all five members accepted it would cost the board somewhere in the $30,000 range, but there was a problem. The application for participation stated,

“Board Member’s who are retired and have coverage under the State Health Benefit Plan, must elect coverage as a Board Member. The Board may elect to contribute additional money toward the retired member’s coverage so they are only required to pay the same amount they were paying for retiree coverage under the plan.”

This would pose a problem for Board Chair Sandra Mercier. Ms. Mercier is a retired teacher of Fannin County. Upon her retirement, Ms. Mercier was but on retirement statues through the state’s insurance plan. If any of the other members took the coverage she would be considered active status not retired making her have to pay in on insurance nearly $20,000 out of pocket, since her spouse is covered with her currently.

If the board was to opt in, the board would have to have add a budget amendment since health insurance was not allocated in the approved budget. This also comes right after the raised millage rate for the county just to cover what was needed.

The video below shows the board reaction and vote to the motion brought to the board by Mark Henson.