Board approves partially self‑funded Blue Cross plan with 12% employee increase

On Oct. 8 the USD 253 Board of Education voted 6–1 to approve a recommendation to move the district’s employee health benefits to a partially self‑funded plan administered through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, with employees facing a 12% increase in their premiums.

District staff, led by Mr. Schwartz, told the board this option was recommended after studying alternatives that ranged from 8% to 17% increases and from fully insured to fully self‑funded models. “The recommendation that we have is to go to that partially self funded plan and to land at an increase at 12%,” Mr. Schwartz said during the presentation. Staff said the plan would keep the same Blue Cross plan design for employees while changing the district’s funding arrangement.

Administrators emphasized privacy and stop‑loss protections. An IMA representative said claims information would continue to be reported in de‑identified, aggregate form and would not include member‑level data. Staff explained a stop‑loss policy would cover catastrophic claims; district presenters said contingency reserves would be used if claims exceeded projections and estimated exposure could reach as much as about $3,000,000 in an extreme scenario. One slide in the presentation projected an overage probability near 4.87% under certain assumptions.

Board members questioned administrative workload and implementation. Staff estimated additional business‑office time of roughly 15–24 hours per month, or about 4–5 wires and related processing tasks, with Melissa Voatz continuing benefits onboarding work. Board members discussed whether insurance contributions should be part of employee contract negotiations, and several urged planning for multi‑year rate risk rather than assuming low increases in future years.

Supporters pointed to staff and committee feedback favoring the self‑funded option with the same Blue Cross network, while opponents warned the district would be accepting more financial risk. One board member said the decision was difficult but that the data increasingly pointed toward the partially self‑funded option.

Board member (Speaker 12) moved to approve the partially self‑funded Blue Cross Blue Shield plan at a 12% employee increase; Board member (Speaker 13) seconded. The motion passed 6–1.

The district will implement the plan, monitor claims activity and use stop‑loss and contingency reserves as described; administrators said they will continue cost‑containment work and report back to the board as the program is implemented.