School District 6 insurance costs about $3 million annually

This year school District 6 will top the $3 million mark to pay for health insurance for its employees.

The board last week approved a measure that will increase what the district spends on health insurance premiums by about 8 percent, or $68 a per member. The district has about 250 members in its system and is self-insured.

All told, the district pays about $1,030 per member, per month. Members then co-pay $111 per single person or $221 per family.

The co-pay for members went up $20 per month as well.

All told, the increase amounts to an additional cost of about $195,593 for the next fiscal year. Last year the increase was also about the same, Zuffelato noted.

Members still face significant deductibles. The single person deductible is $2,000 and a 70-30 percent split up to a $3,500 maximum-out-of pocket. A family is $4,000 with a 70-30 percent split up to $6,500 maximum out-of-pocket.

The plan has an office co-pay of $35 for a primary care physician, but specialists care does not have a co-pay.

The district negotiates directly with the local hospitals for services, a system that hasn’t always gone very well.

Last year the district asked its members to avoid Kalispell Regional Health Care altogether, because of increased costs.

In 2018, North Valley Hospital gave the school a discounted rate off its normal bill charge of 18 percent and KRH gave a discounted rate of about 15 percent off of a normal bill charge.

But the district has long complained that the normal bill charged rate is inflated and care can be had cheaper elsewhere.

Kalispell Regional Healthcare has seen leadership changes in the past few months, with new president and CEO Craig Lambrecht named in January and the district is hoping he will be better to work with than previous administrations.