School district terminates health contract with KRMC

Looking to trim its health insurance costs, the School District 6 board of trustees recently voted to terminate the district’s contract for health care services with Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

The district’s 250 employees are self-insured. Under the former contract with KRMC, the district paid what the hospital charged for a procedure or treatment, minus a 10 percent discount, school district clerk Dustin Zuffelato explained.

The process, however, wasn’t always transparent, school officials noted — what the hospital charged wasn’t always what an actual procedure of treatment might cost.

The school board gave KRMC a 90-day termination notice earlier in January. The board plans to enter an agreement with ELAP Services, a company that negotiates rates between self-insured entities and health care providers.

Under the ELAP plan, the school district would pay KRMC 20 percent over what Medicare currently pays or 12 percent over cost, whichever is the lesser of the two. However, KRMC and the district could negotiate a different agreement in the coming months through ELAP.

The district hasn’t formally entered an agreement with ELAP but is expected to do so in the coming months.

The change won’t have any impact on the health insurance policy for school employees. Currently, a single person pays $89 a month for health insurance with a $2,000 deductible. A family plan costs $178 a month with a $4,000 deductible.

The current plan does not offer a co-pay for doctor’s visits and provides a 70/30 percent share on bills over the deductible with a maximum out-of-pocket expense of $3,500 for an individual or $6,500 per family.

Zuffelato said the change could save the school district more than $200,000 a year in health insurance costs. The district currently spends about $2.5 million on health insurance for its employees.