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JFAC debates health-insurance reserves and compensation; multiple benefit/compensation motions fail or are deferred
Summary
Committee members debated proposed health-insurance premium bases, reserve risk and competing compensation schemes. Motions to adopt both the governor's and CEC's health-insurance recommendations failed to secure required bicameral majorities; separate proposals on employee compensation were withdrawn and deferred for further staff work.
The Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee spent extended time debating two interrelated subjects: (1) the health-insurance per-eligible-FTE base used for FY2026 budgeting and the plan's contingency reserves; and (2) proposed changes to employee compensation that the Change in Employee Compensation (CEC) committee had recommended.
Health insurance: analysts presented two competing proposals for the health-insurance per-eligible-FTE base. The CEC committee recommended $13,960 per eligible FTE; the governor recommended $14,300. Division of Financial Management analyst Keith Bybee cited the Milliman actuarial projections showing the current contingency reserve balance at roughly $80,491,337. Milliman projected that adopting the CEC recommendation would reduce the reserve to about $51,600,000 (near the contractual 10% minimum); adopting the governor's recommendation would leave about $61,400,000, providing an additional roughly $10 million cushion.
Division of Financial Management administrator Laurie Wolf and Faith Knowlton, administrator for the Office of Group Insurance, advised the committee about legal/contractual risks. Knowlton…
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