New Farmington Teacher Contract Includes Change in Health Insurance Plan

The following press release was submitted by Farmington Public Schools. 

The Farmington Board of Education and the Teachers’ Association (FEA) have reached an agreement which includes a new employee health plan. Effective September 1, 2014, the current PPO plan will be completely replaced by a consumer directed HDHP HSA.

The new HSA insurance plan represents a significant cost management breakthrough. The plan creates important financial and tax incentives for employees to improve health and become better healthcare consumers. The plan is designed to improve health outcomes and the health status of faculty members and their families. The FEA insurance plan has a projected cost avoidance of $710,000 in health insurance costs over the life of the contract.

The new insurance plan carries the following design features:

Individual and family deductibles of $2,000/$4,000; After deductibles are satisfied the plan pays 90% of medical costs and the employee pays 10% up to an out-of-pocket maximum; A partially employer-funded HSA; and Employees’ contribution is 17% in year 1; 18% in year 2 and 19% in year 3.

The FEA negotiation is the culmination of four years of collaborative work between three employee groups: the CILU (non-certified staff), FASA (administrators) and the FEA (teachers). These associations have implemented the HDHP HSA insurance plan in an effort to partner with the Board of Education to create important financial and tax incentives for their employees, to improve health, and become better healthcare consumers.

Board Chair, Mary Grace Reed said, “We give all of the credit for this breakthrough to our employees and their leadership. The willingness of the three groups to help the Board find solutions to the national trend of out of control health care costs, allows the Board of Education to be on track to reduce future insurance costs by over 1.2 million dollars over the life of the three contracts. The community of Farmington is very fortunate to have high caliber and engaged staff who work to the benefit of children and our community.”

The Farmington Board of Education Negotiations Team led by Paula O’Brien and Ellen Siuta, along with the FEA’s Negotiation Team, worked continuously from June through November to negotiate a plan that maintains the current strong health insurance coverage for FEA’s membership.Paula O’Brien, the Chair of the Farmington Board of Education’s Negotiations Committee said, “I am delighted that the FEA membership supports the Board's goal to provide our employees a quality health plan that allows the school district to also contain costs through healthcare consumerism. I thank the FEA membership for recognizing the value of this new plan design and appreciate their commitment to excellence in education in Farmington.”

Ben Stern, representing the Farmington Education Association said, “We are pleased that the FEA and Board were able to come to a fair and respectful agreement. Both sides were able to make gains on their priorities without compromising their core values. We look forward to engaging in amicable and productive negotiations in the future."

YEARS 1-3: In 2014-2015, FEA is the third association in Farmington to move to a High Deductible Health Plan and Health Savings Account (HDHP HSA) for health insurance benefits. The agreement also includes a 1.25% general wage increase (GWI) for teachers at the top step of the salary schedule and a .5% GWI and step for all other teachers in year 1, a 1.25% GWI for teachers at the top step of the salary schedule and a .5% GWI and step for all other teachers in year 2 , and a 1.75% GWI for teachers at the top step of the salary schedule and a .5% GWI and step for all other teachers in year 3.