CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State workers will get a chance to comment beginning Monday on the proposed changes to their health insurance through PEIA.
The PEIA Finance Board hits the road for public meetings, two a week for the next three weeks. The first stop is Monday night at the Highlands Event Center in Wheeling.
PEIA is proposing a 3% aggregate premium increase for both employees and employers and a $200 monthly spousal surcharge increase. The changes would begin next July 1.
Education West Virginia Co-President Dale Lee said the new education union, made up of the former WVEA and AFT-West Virginia, plans to do a better job this year explaining the plan options to members of their union. He said it may be advantageous for younger, healthier workers to choose Plan D which is a low premium, high deductible plan. Lee said sometimes everyone is lumped into Plan A because that’s the most common.
“What we’re going to do in this next enrollment period is to do a much better job of educating our members on the differences of the plans, the costs of the plans and the savings you could see,” Lee said recently on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The 3% aggregate premium increase is less than the increases of the last few years. Last year, there were premium increases of 14% for the state fund or 16% in plans for local governments with retirees taking on a 12% premium increase. And the agency last year had to impose increases in deductibles of 40% — on average more than $300.
Lee said there could be real money savings for some workers if they choose the high deductible plan.
“I think a big part of that is educating them. You just don’t know what you don’t know,” Lee said.
There were promises of a special legislative session to deal with PEIA before the end of 2025 but the urgency appeared to cool in the Morrisey administration after the program’s costs did better in recent months. State worker representative Elaine Harris said at some point she hopes there will be real negotiations about PEIA’s future.
“We’ve said we’re willing to sit down at the table–be a participant–or how we could work together,” Harris told MetroNews. “PEIA coverage is good coverage, that’s not the problem, it’s just the increases on state employees who need to be better paid anyway.”
The proposed plan going out for public hearing this week also includes a $200 monthly spousal surcharge increase. Lee wants that amount changed to determined by how much you make as a state worker instead of a blanket increase. He said he’s been told the legislature would have to make that change. He said the education group would lobby for that in the coming legislative session.
Harris, a former finance board member, said she’s also concerned about retired state workers who continue to see premium increases although she said she is glad the finance board is proposing more money for the premium assistance program.
The public hearing schedule:
Nov. 3 at the Highlands Event Center in Wheeling
Nov. 6 at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center
Nov. 10 at the Holiday Inn Martinsburg
Nov. 13 at the Culture Center in Charleston
Nov. 17 at the Mountainlair Student Union in Morgantown
Nov. 20, a virtual town hall
All of the events have registration at 5:30 p.m. with the public hearings starting at 6.