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JBC staff flag $432,000 Health‑Life‑Dental uptick; committee leans to absorb cost
Summary
Joint Budget Committee staff reported a $432,000 increase to projected Health, Life and Dental (HLD) costs driven by updated insurance estimates; staff warned the impact would fall unevenly across departments and the committee indicated a preference to absorb the cost rather than require departments to reallocate personal‑services lines.
Mitch Burmeister, JBC staff, told the committee that updated insurance estimates from the Department of Personnel and Administration (DPA) and the Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) increased the projected Health, Life and Dental (HLD) cost by about $432,000 compared with earlier estimates.
"They reached out, and they said because when I kind of created those numbers, I don't have all the I don't work with the insurance companies to figure this out... DPA and OSPB got back to me and said that there would be some changes to the totals... they sent me new numbers last week that include the numbers that you see here," Burmeister said.
Senators and representatives pressed staff for the original HLD target number, and Burmeister said the earlier balancing figure was roughly in the low‑30 million range but that subsequent committee decisions and targeted exemptions changed that total. Committee members repeatedly asked whether departments could absorb the increase within their personal‑services lines.
"It costs what it costs," Burmeister said during the exchange when a member asked whether the committee could simply leave the long‑bill placeholder in place and let actual costs determine final spending.
Staff told members that the HLD dollars sweep into a group benefits fund that absorbs year‑to‑year differences between the budgeted HLD line and actual program costs. That fund was also identified as the vehicle that would carry an agreed $9 million cost related to a benefit grandfathering decision discussed earlier in the session.
Burmeister and other staff showed the committee the distribution of the $432,000 increase across departments, noting that some agencies would feel a small impact (a few thousand dollars) while others could face six‑figure shortfalls in the HLD line if the committee forced departments to absorb the adjustment.
At the end of the discussion several members said they were inclined to have the state absorb the $432,000 increase rather than require departments to reallocate personal services funding immediately; staff agreed to print a departmental breakdown and the committee deferred final action until members had the printout.
Committee direction: staff to provide a detailed departmental breakdown of the $432,000 HLD increase and to include the adjustment in conference draft language unless the breakdown shows a compelling reason to allocate the change differently.
