By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board was set to vote on a change in its health care provider Monday night but was stopped when it received a letter an hour and half before the meeting from the teachers’ and custodians’ unions.
In the letter, the leaders of both organizations said they were ready to take legal action if the district changed its health care provider from a state plan that is administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.
The district was hoping to leave the state plan for Aetna, which the board and administrators said would give the district more flexibility and bargaining power in the long term and save the district anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Blue Cross Blue Shield has raised the premiums for the district by about $1.4 million in the last two years.
The Aetna policy would have increased deductibles, but reduced overall out-of-pocket expenses. Board member Lance Bickle argued the Aetna plan would not only save the district money, but it had better benefits.
Aetna also covers more providers in the area than Blue Cross Blue Shield.
The stumbling block was wording in the custodian union’s contract that stipulates the district must provide insurance through the state’s plan. Twenty-eight district employees are in the custodian’s union.
“Twenty-eight of them are holding the district hostage and not allowing us to make a decision on this, and I just want to make sure that is brought up publicly,” Bickle said.
Bickle said he was very frustrated.
“Anytime you go and make a big decision like this, there is always the unknown,” he said. “For lack of a better term, people are scared. Anytime you talk about salary, anytime you talk about benefits, those are huge things for people. Having that said, I don’t think anyone on the board or anyone who was on the committees took any of that lightly.”
Having the state plan handcuffs, the district, Bickle said. The state plan does not provide claims history, which means it is difficult to get insurance bids from other companies. He said the board was trying to save money that could be diverted to salary increases and other programs.
Board member Josh Waddell said he did not understand why the union would not switch plans.
“There is nobody on this board that does not want to provide the best benefits we can afford,” he said. “Afford being a key word.”
Waddell agreed with Bickle the Aetna plan has better benefits and it would benefit the taxpayers and school district.
“I fail to see why there is this push,” he said. “If you tell the me the only reason is we just don’t know what it will be to change from Blue Cross Blue Shield, that to me does not come close to all the positives that are associated. …
“To me there is union leadership that is not doing what is on the halo of this letter, which is ‘making public schools great for every child.’ In fact, it seems to push this and to take it down a path with some strong arming leverage. It is actually counterproductive to the betterment of the school district. I am not going to hide my frustration with what is transpiring right now.”
Board member Mandy Fox said she was unsettled the unions decided to provide the letter right before the meeting at which the vote was to be taken, when the district had been talking about the change and conducting meetings on the issue for months.
The board took no action on the insurance plan. The district plans to discuss the issue further with administrators and its attorney.