Premiums for V.I. government health insurance with CIGNA will go down by $8.6 million, or 5.5 percent, thanks in part to the plan going out to bid this year, government consultants told senators before the Legislature approved the new plan in a special session Thursday.
Last year, rates went up by five percent and Government Employee Service Commission Chair Beverly Joseph said it would have gone up more but CIGNA did not want employees to pay a higher share of the insurance cost. (See: Mapp Says GESC Claim About Cigna Is ‘Untrue’)
This year, the rates went down.
Senate President Myron Jackson asked why the premium was lower this year.
Kurell Hodge of the V.I. Division of Personnel said there had been an increase in government employee’s participation in the Wellness Program that helped CIGNA to calculate the overall premium.
Jackson asked if improvements in the health of government employees played a role.
“It’s hard to prove a heart attack didn’t happen,” consultant Kurt Gehring said. But, Gehring added, the territory may be making fewer claims than other jurisdictions.
“Your health insurance claims are not necessarily accelerating like the rest of the country,” he said. Many states have seen five percent or even eight percent increases but the U.S. Virgin Islands “did not accelerate by those same numbers,” he said.
Gehring said a third factor was “you had a bid year. …the health insurance bid was open to all health carriers, and CIGNA offered the lowest bid. … I think Cigna felt that pressure as well and I think that is why they came in where they did.”
“So is it going up next year when it is not a bid year?” Sen. Tregenza Roach (D-STT) asked.
“Not necessarily,” Joseph said.
With the $8.6 million decrease, employees will see a decrease of $3 million and the employer contribution will go down by $5.6 million, according to Joseph’s testimony.
Right now, for 2017, employee premiums per pay period are $138.75 for a single employee and $257.68 for the employer. In the new plan, they will be $131.69 for a single employee and $245.42 for the employer. For a family, premiums are currently $245.42 for the employee and $459.79 for the employer and will drop to $232.83 for the employee and $432.41 for the employer.
Senators approved the plan without any objections.
Voting in favor were: Jackson, Roach, Sens. Marvin Blyden (D-STT), Dwayne DeGraff (I-STT), Jean Forde (D-STT), Novelle Francis (D-STX), Alicia “Chucky” Hansen (I-STX), Janette Millin Young (D-STT), Positive Nelson (ICM-STX), Sammuel Sanes (D-STX), Brian Smith (D-At Large) and Kurt Vialet (D-STX). Sens. Nereida Rivera O’Reilly (D-STX) and Janelle Sarauw (I-STT) were absent.
