United HealthCare (UHC) has replaced Humana Insurance Company at two large San Antonio school districts recently. Two weeks ago Harlandale ISD voted to change from Humana to UHC. Now the San Antonio Independent School District succumbs to aggressive UHC sales warriors.
The San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) Board of Trustees approved the district health insurance plan that will become effective November 1, 2014. The Board accepted the Employee Benefits Committee recommendation for United Healthcare. The committee spent 24 hours over five meetings to review and evaluate proposals submitted by carriers. Factors considered by the committee included cost, benefits, size of network, and service.
Renewal with Humana would have resulted in a 14.5% increase in overall costs while the proposal from United Healthcare, which was the committee’s recommendation, will result in a 2.3% overall increase. The district will be increasing its contribution by $502,379. The district will continue to fully fund the premium for the “employee only” coverage on the $2000 deductible plan and will continue to offer four plans – a $2000 deductible plan, a $1000 deductible plan, a $300 deductible plan, and an HMO. SAISD is one of only five districts in the county that continue to offer a $0 employee contribution option to employees. Additionally, SAISD contributes more per employee per month, at $402.91, than any other area district except Lackland ISD. The average monthly contribution of the other districts is $310.
Highlights of the UHC plan include:
- More robust national network
- No office visit co-pay for children under the age of 19 for primary care physician
- Co-pays and deductibles count towards out-of-pocket maximum (which is not the case under current Humana plan)
- HMO is national (not restricted to Bexar County area)
- HMO is open access (does not require selection of primary care physician)
- Same office visit co-pay for primary care and “premium tier one” specialists – $30
- Office visit co-pay for non-“premium tier one” specialists – $60
- Prescription drugs – $10/$25/$50
The employee contribution for the new plan options are as follows:
| Emp only | Emp/Spouse | Emp/Child | Emp/Fam | |
| EPO 2000 | $0 | $271.56 | $184.03 | $578.71 |
| EPO 1000 | $45.59 | $434.23 | $304.06 | $859.85 |
| PPO 300 | $109.43 | $552.73 | $404.73 | $1040.70 |
| HMO | $127.29 | $585.89 | $432.91 | $1091.33 |
The SAISD Employee Benefits Committee members are as follows. Alliance members on the committee are in bold.
Terry Armstrong, Plant Services, Carpenter;Susan Clark, Green ES, Teacher; Hilda Cantu, Houston HS, Food Services Mgr; Loretta Moten, Miller ES, Teacher; Elaine Pierce, Highland Hills ES, Teacher; David Gracia, HR, Asst. Director; John Kilgarriff, Japhet ES, Principal; Guadalupe Diaz, Bowden ES, Principal; Maria Torres, Finance, Director; Barbara Stoks, Health Services Director; Shelley Potter, San Antonio Alliance, President; Irma Hernandez, HR, Director
