MASSENA — COVID-19 continues to impact the St. Lawrence-Lewis Counties School District Employee Medical Plan for the 13 participating school districts and Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
Massena Central School Superintendent Patrick Brady, who represents the district on the plan’s board, said both the workmen’s compensation and health care plans are in good financial shape.
“The workmen’s compensation plan is in good shape overall” with a cash balance of about $4.6 million, Mr. Brady said. That meets the plan’s current recognized claim liability of $2.6 million.
He said the first quarter numbers were “coming in quite well” at 25% below budget, primarily because of the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
The Massena Central School District currently budgets $370,069 for workmen’s compensation claims. Claims over the past four years, along with associated plan costs were $420,435 in 2016-17; $284,114 in 2017-18; $343,905 in 2018-19; and $228,577 in 2019-20.
“They are seeing less claims in workmen’s comp since COVID started. They don’t set the rates until February. If nothing changes, they will be looking at a 0% change, which will be good news. The state budget situation is looking pretty grim this year. Any savings anywhere is important,” he said.
“Buildings and Grounds might get claims based on the nature of the work. (Director of Operations Greg Tessier) has been doing a lot of focus on staff training to avoid injury. I think that, combined with some pandemic issues, we’re starting to see a better trend,” Mr. Brady said.
He said the health insurance plan is also seeing “some pretty significant decreases in claims during COVID.” Decreases in use have caused an approximate 30 to 35% decrease in health insurance expenses for April through June with a slowly moderating return to expected levels throughout the remainder of 2020, he said.
“Overall, most self-insured plans that are outside of heavy COVID-19 impact areas have seen a significant decrease in office visits, with some of these visits transitioning over to the more cost-effective televisits, and a dramatic decrease in outpatient services and non-emergent surgeries,” Mr. Brady said.
He said there is a concern, though, that with a significant number of people not visiting the doctors’ offices, they’ve seen a significant reduction in both preventive visits and preventive screenings. That may mean higher expenses in the future associated with the treatment of undiagnosed problems that are being caught in the latter stages instead of through proper preventive screenings.
The plan is looking at a 2% increase in costs for 2021-22. Final budget estimates will be presented in early February. The Massena Central School District currently budgets $12,594,723 for health insurance.
At their request, the Canton, Edwards-Knox and Ogdensburg school districts have officially withdrawn from the plan.
“All three of them left last year for different plans. That process has been completed. Each was given a prorated share of the existing fund balance minus any outstanding claims and administrative costs,” Mr. Brady said.
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November 29, 2020 at 08:02AM
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COVID-19 continues to impact medical plan for area schools - NNY360
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