Goshen County School Board members entered Wednesday night’s special meeting with several health insurance policy options on the table, but found out by the end of the night they might not be the ones currently holding the cards.

Cheryl Hageman, a consultant for the Wyoming Educators’ Benefit Trust (WEBT), explained to board members she isn’t sure if WEBT’s board will allow the district’s current policy to continue into the future.

The district currently allows retirees to access the same health insurance policy at the same premium as active employees if they pay their own way, but the school board has recently debated changing the policy.

Hageman said the district is the only policyholder in the trust with that configuration, adding she’s not sure why it’s been allowed to stay that way for so long.

Moving forward, Hageman said she plans to communicate the situation at the trust’s board meeting Feb. 19, with the school district’s annual renewal possibilities presented to them by March 5 – four days before the district plans to next consider the hot topic at its March 9 regular board meeting.

Upon hearing that information, Board Treasurer Clark House asked Hageman if it would make more sense for the district to pursue a different insurance provider.

Hageman, however, responded by pointing out if the WEBT board decides to discontinue the current policy, it would be phased out slowly over several years rather than suddenly stopped.

“It will be something where they’re slowly going to have take retirees out of the active group and into a retiree group,” she said.

Additionally, while the district’s retirees will face about a 100 percent premium increase if they’re switched over to the retirement pool, Hageman said they would likely see that type of jump every year with a different provider because of poor performance.

In 2009, retirees and their spouses using the district’s policy paid $179,965.08 in premiums and submitted claims totaling $323,386.58. Those numbers equate to a loss ratio of 1.8, which means retirees submitted 80 percent more worth of claims than they paid premiums for.

While those numbers are poor, Hageman also said the district’s had a couple bad years with its active employees.

one, or needs to be done,” he said in addressing whether the district should actually fund the liability.

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