By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The city of Hays is anticipating a decrease in the 2019 premium for employees’ health insurance.

Erin Giebler, human resources director, told city commissioners Thursday night the high deductible plan is the most popular.

The city switched to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas in 2017 which offers three plans. “Really, it was our employees that came back to us saying ‘we want this high deductible plan back,'” Giebler said.

For the first time, employees were required to pay a portion of the premiums in order to keep health costs within the budget.

The city kept the same plan in 2018 and added up to a $700 match for employees’ Health Savings Accounts.

“We got our renewals and it’s working out for us. We’re actually seeing a 2.46% decrease compared to last year. If you take out the costs our employees will be paying, the cost to the city is $161,414,” reported Giebler.

Thanks to the premium decrease, Giebler said staff is recommending an increase to the 2019 Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution to $1,000 each, an estimated additional $120,000.

“I will point out the total cost of the premium plus the HSA contribution being recommended is still lower than the 2018 proposal,” Giebler added.

Commissioners thanked Giebler and the Employee Benefit Committee for their work on the renewal plan.

“We also have to thank our employees for keeping their health benefits in line,” added Commissioner Ron Mellick. “We want to take care of our employees but they’re helping themselves on this. That’s great.”

Mayor James Meier also noted the estimate for the Hays Public Library employee health plan is going down almost 20 percent.

“I think they had a different mixture of ages in their employees this year than they’ve had in the past,” Meier explained, “and that accounted for a lot of that decrease.

The commission will vote on the renewal at the Oct. 25 meeting.