Health Insurance Rate Hike 18%

St. Robert budget planners knew they would see an increase in their health insurance premiums but weren’t expecting the 18% increase presented to the city’s finance committee.

Insurance agent Wayne Strohschein acknowledged that the health insurance rate increase was substantial but cautioned that it easily could have been higher.

City aldermen and administrators asked a number of questions for which health insurance company representatives didn’t have detailed answers.

Assistant City Administrator Chris Heard noted that with double-digit health insurance premium increases, the city’s current bill of $720,000 per year could balloon to more than $1 million within three years. As an alternative, Heard proposed that the city consider accepting a partial self-insurance system by which the city would assume part of the risk in return for the insurance company offering lower premiums.

After being informed that the St. Robert City Council meets Monday evening and its members had expected to have a finance committee recommendation at that time, Jones said insurance representatives will try to get data more quickly than the company’s underwriting committee that doesn’t meet until the day after the city council.

After the health insurance representatives left, Herren said he was frustrated and several committee members said they were upset and unhappy.

Responding to questions from committee members, Herren said the city’s contract runs until next year. While member cities of the Meramec Regional Planning Commission have been trying to create an insurance consortium similar to the program Pulaski County and 10 other counties use to negotiate better premiums based on a larger group of covered employees, Herren said that consortium hasn’t yet been organized and won’t be ready in time for St. Robert to use it.

Cook, who handles health insurance and benefits for the Waynesville R-VI School District, said she liked Heard’s idea of partial self-insurance and urged city officials to get enough data to make a decision for the next year.