At their May 2, 2024, meeting trustees of the Texas government health plan for Texas educators will consider renewal rates and benefits for the 2024-2025 school year.
Will rates remain the same, go up, or go down? Will benefits change?
It’s Deduction Dear Watson, Simply Deduction
In their meeting of 15 Feb. 2024 TRS ActiveCare trustees were provided information on future cost projections. They learned plan contributions for 2023-2024 were projected to be $1.752 billion while 2024-2025 projected plan contributions were estimated to be $1.83 billion, a 4.5% increase.
Will 2024-2025 rates go up 4.5% as projected? It will be interesting to see how accurate Segal was in their projections.
Will The Real Rate Increase Stand Up!
The truth in the math is somewhat elusive. The real numbers show something much different. In fiscal year 2022-2023 TRS ActiveCare received supplemental federal funding of $638 million. The following year, fiscal year 2023-2024 the government health plan received an additional $589 million from state coffers bringing total supplemental funding over a two year period to $1.22 billion.
$1.22 billion is about 70% of annual funding, or eight months of claims and expenses. That’s a big number, far greater than needed reserves of 2.5 months.
Considering these supplemental monies, the effective renewal rate for 2022-2023 was +36% while the following year’s renewal was a 32% increase.
Meanwhile Back At The Ranch
Meanwhile districts outside TRS ActiveCare don’t get the same tender love. No supplemental funding for the renegades. They are on their own. No one cares
