Rising health costs concern local governments
Miranda Schuler
David Lakefield
Miranda Schuler
David Lakefield
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Budgets and healthcare costs were on the minds of local government and school officials who met at Minot's Liaison Committee meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24.
One of the shared budget concerns is the rising cost of health insurance.
Ward County's employee health insurance costs increased nearly 10% for 2027.
Initially, the county was looking at a 12.9% increase, despite an increase in the maximum out-of-pocket cost for employees, said Ward County Commissioner Miranda Schuler.
""We looked at some different options, potentially increasing the employee (premium) share as well. Ultimately, we increased the stop loss and made some other minor changes and ended at a 10 percent increase, which is a problem when you're dealing with these 3 percent caps," Schuler said of the state's limit on property tax increases.
Minot Park District will see a 5.25% healthcare insurance increase. However, Calyn Beckman, finance director for the district, said the current plan will be discontinued, and the new one for 2028 will not be as attractive.
Laura Dokken, Minot Public Schools business manager, said the district is switching healthcare companies on Jan. 1 and still is waiting for the new insurance rates. The new company quoted a decrease in cost, which was largely the reason for the change, she said.
"We budgeted for the decrease, so we're hoping on that. But for school districts across the state, there's been a lot of discussion on the volatility and the high increase in the rates, especially in smaller school districts," Dokken said, noting rate increases as high as 25% in some districts.
She added there's been discussion statewide on a potential study into creation of a state plan, looking into how it might work given the variables across the school districts.
The City of Minot's insurance cost will go up about 8%, Finance Director David Lakefield said. He mentioned the option of creating a health insurance trust to include the city, school, park district and, potentially, the county, creating a larger self-insured pool and more leverage in negotiating with insurance companies. Currently, all the entities self insure except the park district.
The amount of employee insurance premiums picked up by each entity varies. Ward County pays 100%, but other entities differ in the percentages they pay and it varies by type of policy.
Schuler, who serves on the board for the North Dakota Association of Counties, said the association plans to present a resolution to the Legislature to remove certain items from the 3% property tax cap, such as the costs of health insurance and elections. Specifically for counties, she said, the association would like to remove detention centers from the cap, particularly juvenile detention, because of rising costs that could have impacts across the state.