By Christopher Lenois

RESERVE – With the clock ticking on current life and health insurance policies for St. John the Baptist Parish School System employees, the school board took action this week to generally satisfy everyone concerned.

The system’s life insurance policy with Aetna expires May 1 and Aetna’s renewal rate quote was 22 percent higher than the current contract. But Dave Millet of Dave Millet Insurance Agency found another carrier, The Standard, whose rates were actually lower than the current contract by a significant amount.

“It’s basically a slam dunk,” said Finance Director Felix Boughton when he presented the figures to the board for approval.

Board member Dowie Gendron, who chairs the insurance committee, added that Millet provided reports of The Standard’s high ranking status as a provider by financial analyst company’s such as Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.

“They’re a stable, reliable company,” said Gendron. The board voted unanimously to accept the three-year contract. The board has an extra month to address the more expensive and difficult question of health insurance. The district would have to pay $7 million to keep the current plan, $2 million more than the current contract, which they have said is unaffordable.

After seeking quotes from Cigna and AmCare, in addition to alternative plans from their current carrier, United Health care, the board has narrowed their choices to three different plans from United, including an HMO plan, all of which either increase costs or decrease benefits.

During Tuesday’s meeting of the Insurance Committee, it was decided to present the details of the three plans to all school employees and retirees to review and express their opinions to their site coordinators before the committee’s next meeting on April 30.

Boughton had already received feedback from nearly half of the 1160 plan members he surveyed about what they want out of the health plan.

“Everyone wants the present plan without the extra cost,” Boughton told the board this week. “Which isn’t possible.”

Boughton’s spreadsheet included comparisons between the plan’s cost to St. John school employees and those from surrounding parishes. The numbers show the plan to be competitive in terms of costs and benefits.

The board inquired about that status of legislation proposed by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) recommending $25 million to aid parishes with the rising costs of health insurance. Boughton said he heard that the issue was being discussed by legislators, but the details of how the plan were still very ambiguous on how that money would be allocated. Superintendent Michael Coburn added that the figure was probably not significant enough to aid all the parishes anyhow.

“It would take about $66 million to fund the whole state,” said Coburn.

The board approved the resolution to present the three plans to the employees. Board member Felix LeBoeuf recommended that all the members attend the next insurance committee meeting to discuss the results. The goal is to have a plan approved during the May 2 public meeting of the school board.