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Insurance Benefits Reduced For Escambia Teachers, School Employees
September 29, 2009
The Escambia County School Board voted Monday to cut back on health care benefits for about 4,300 teachers, staff members and retirees.
The biggest change comes to doctor’s visit co-pays. This year, it costs a teacher or educational staff member $30 to see a doctor. Starting January 1, that co-pay will change to $20 plus 20 percent of the doctor’s total bill. The co-pays do not apply to preventative doctor’s visits and screenings.
The new plan will keep hospitalization co-pays at the current 20 percent.
The school district was facing a $6.4 million budget deficit in its self-insured insurance trust fund. The change to doctor’s co-pays is projected to save the district about $3.5 million next year.
Under the next year’s health benefits plan, school district employees will see no change to their health insurance premiums or prescription cost. And the district will pay a $100 bonus to full-time permanent employees that take part in a health risk assessment program.
The Escambia School District Health Plan changes were approved Monday on a 5-0 vote by the school board at a special meeting. The changes will be on the district’s Choice Plan.
Comments
23 Responses to “Insurance Benefits Reduced For Escambia Teachers, School Employees”
Florida is already ranked as one of the worst ten states in the U.S. for teachers (not based just on pay). Besides the increases in insurance, there was also just a change which takes 3% of a teacher’s salary for retirement. Great timing. Seems they could have at least given some breathing room between the two changes. Sad, too, that we have some admin people in the district who are drawing a hefty retirement pay and have been rehired into another top paying position. The teachers I know regularly spend their own money for classroom supplies (things that get used up by students – paper, pencils, markers, etc.), not to mention things like classroom libraries (which many are required to have). I won’t be spending my own money this year.
We moved from Century in ‘98 when my husbad got his degree for teaching. We moved into Alabama (up to Guntersville Lake) simply because THE PAY AND BENEFITS or LACK there of….We would take a $10,000 pay CUT to come back home not to mention those benefits. That is pitiful! They should switch to the system Alabama has- Generics for EVERYONE only $5….If you want name brand when generic is available you pay $50. Prescriptions that are not available in generic, we pay $30 for. So believe you me, you say “can I get something in a generic please….” when the Dr. write out that scrip… It is a shame that Florida has low pay and not good benefits for the teachers…
No wonder the schools are behind in scores….NO TEACHERS will want to work for less pay and less benefits why would the good ones WANT to move to Florida…. so sad the way they are doing the teachers………
Wonder how many of those school board employees have the school insurance?
My, MY, My
The masters of waste. My vote would go to the School District for most wasteful spending of all local goverments. Remember the half cent tax to help the School District well maybe they don’t need it anymore.They seem to have a nack for wasteing money with buying camera systems for the schools and the buses instead of dealing with the problems. They seem to have a bad track record with dealing with misuse of property in the District. As camshaft said he seen a couple of top District bigshots covering it up with the shovels. This is very true! Its the good old boy system in the District that is out of control. When will the District start hiring honest/trust worthy people to run this District. If you are willing to turn a blind eye to the corrouption that gos on in the School District from the higher ups then you should apply for a top level job because thats all they hire (Crooks)
Run them college boys out of office and put some honest/trust worthy common sense people in there to run things
We need a tax watch group to watch over the District spending and maybe save us (The tax payer) money Maybe stop the half cents tax!!!!
Well all of the Republicans are against the Public Option, or any regulation so this will only get worse.
So stop complaining about it, if you support these ideas
Why are we paying for children that play sports insurance? Why not have parents sign a release form . Have the parents show proof of insurance. It is not right to pay for childrens insurance that play sports. Do you know how many things a teacher is exposed to every day and then it goes home to their family. If anyone one needs a break when it comes to insurance it would be all the people that work at our schools in Escambia. IT IS NOT RIGHT TO PLAY FOR INSURANCE FOR THE CHILDREN THAT PLAYS SPORTS AND NOT THE SCHOOL STAFF. HOW MUCH IS THE SCHOOL BOARD PAYING FOR THE SPORTS INSURANCE????????????????????????????????????????????
health care is cheap
sick care can be expensive
What hasn’t been mentioned is this… They lowered the copay to $20, no copays for wellness and preventative care visits… but they are imposing a deductable of $2500… so how are they saving us $$$$
Well if the School District were rid of all the crooks that work there and the same for the board ,We might have some money in the pot for insurance. But as long as it is business as usual We will always be broke. They waste money for things that They dont need……powder coated windows in buses…..not tinted but coated frames in which the standard ones never gave problems.how many extra $$$$$ per bus, low profile hatches how much extra.low profile hatches with a tall air conditiong unit on top….why the extra expense for the hatches when the air unit is way more costly……the trees must know the diffrence.I saw several big shots with golden shovels …..wonder what They were covering up.
I noticed that all five members voted for it, so they must have seen the handwriting on the wall. With less money coming in, someone must make the tough decisions as to what to fund and what to cut. I’m afraid that in a couple of years, this will seem like a small issue when compared to what will be taking place at that time. Prepare yourselves for more taxes, less benefits and fewer salary increases.
At least the politicians are getting creative about raising taxes. Now that they are taking in less road taxes, due to all of us driving less and driving more fuel-efficient vehicles, they are considering a tax on each mile that you drive. When we are made aware of all the paperwork we will be required to do, we’ll insist that they just raise gasoline taxes. They will do so RELUCTANTLY, of course.
To Obama’s Plan….as Sunshine wrote don’t blame President Obama for this. Malcolm Thomas did this on his own along with other stuff. He stated teaching jobs will not be cut when he was up for election and look at all the unemployed teachers in the county. As for some of the big people downtown losing their jobs….they didn’t lose their jobs because some of them retired and some just has their positions changed to another job title. A lot goes on in the school system that no one knows about including some of the employees and now the pymnt for a doctor visit is going up…this is ridiculous. I have never heard of paying the copay plus a percentage of the doctor’s visit! We need to all pray that things will get better!
Our teachers do a job that most of us can’t do ourselves that’s why we send our children to school everyday. They don’t even make the money they should now their healthcare id getting cut. This is sick! What is wrong with Escambia County? Could it be that people don’t stand up to the people who are the cause of the problem? It’s not the teachers it’s the people over them cutting everything. There is no need for this why can inmates get health care and our teachers can’t get the care they need somthing is so wrong. Next time people go for IEP meetings and they know that there child needs help remember its not the teachers fault you can see it in there face. It’s the people who don’t want to spend the extra on help for your child. Our children are being set up for a big let down in life and the only good that will come is that they will have better health care than teachers when they are locked up. Because the system has let them down. say its not so but the truth is that without the help some of these children need crime will be the only job that will pay and treat them like they are someone. Open your mind and see the problems with our system stand up now for teachers and children before its to late.
Everybody needs to watch the movie sicko a real eye opener. Compares different countries health systems.
DONT PUT THE BLAME ON OBAMA ,,,, ITS THE ECONOMY,,,,,, IT WAS ALL IN A MESS WHEN HE TOOK THE SEAT OK……………FLOMATON AL.
I agree with “more things to consider. Everytime you get a high dollar prescription when there is a generic available…your insurance will go up. Everytime you take you kid to the emergency room for a non-emergency issue, you cost is going to go up. Everytime you smoke that cigarette or eat that donut. We all have a stake in this! Insurance companies are in it to make money. Just like for your car insurance, claims make the premiums go up. And for the idiot who thinks this is “obama’s plan”…this has been an issue for years, not just in the last 9 mos.
Remember this is the district that gave FREE insurance to EVERY CHILD playing a sport this year. Not because they are good people, but because they were protecting their butts so an injured kid did not sue. Now they are cutting insurance for teachers, administrators and even the nice lunchroom ladies (we love ‘em!). It’s all about the all mighty dollar. Our taxes are up, student counts are down, test scores are down and school buses are crowded (another “cost savings”). I’m with Jack Moran below “this is CRAZY”.
I for one am regretting my vote for Malcolm Thomas. You always see his campaigning smiling face when you go to a school for an open house or something, or you are forced to watch a video “greeting” from the man. It’s just campaigning! I hope he enjoys being superintendent, because this is his one and only term.
Just part of Obama’s plan — wreck the economy, trash insurance. Leave people with poor coverage or no job and no coverage. Then they will come begging back to O Great Hussein Obama and his czars. Oh Hail The Chief!
Wow, with all due respect, some of you should dive in and try to navigate the tumuluous sea of insurance before casting stones. Business is tough right now for everyone! Money is down, expenses are up, etc etc. Private and Public.
I feel your pain, but you guys should consider that everytime somebody sues anyone in the medical field, your insurance goes up. The unrealistic amount of liablility Americans put on other Americans is what drives much of these high prices.
PLUS, the person(s) who made this decision probably lost sleep over it as I have wehn making hard decision like this that concern others.
When will The District………..learn to put their children and teachers first!!! If people really knew what teachers have to put up with…there’s to much bull going on in THE DISTRICT!!!!!!!
And they think they are doing us some good. Food, gas, utilities, taxes….everything is going up, except our pay. After working almost 10 years in the system, I still have yet to hit $8.00 per hour. Can’t afford to go to the doctor now… I really can’t afford to go to the doctor come Janurary. Maybe the big wigs should take a pay cut.
For those that need a little help with math, how about this?
I went to a cardiologist a few weeks ago. His normal office visit if $240.
My visit was the $30 copay. Now with $20 per 20 percent my copay would be 240 x .20 = 48 + 20 = $68
While the budget DOUBLES every three years, taxes increase, students are lost, schools are closed, and test scores remain among the lowest in the nation. I’m with Lawton – this is CRAZY!
they take take and take and never give,,the district and employees get no value for what is paid for on this plan,,,the insurance is a joke and the people watching over it, is a joke..Put someone over the insurance that knows what they are doing or get out of the insurance business