Orange teachers, district reach agreement on health insurance plans

Orange teachers have reached an agreement on health insurance (Tootles / )

Orange County's teachers union has agreed to a plan that will offer the district's 13,000 teachers three health insurance plans for the coming school year, ending contentious negotiations.

The three plans are the same as the ones being used by administrators and non-instructional employees. Open enrollment for teachers will begin Monday, district officials said. Enrollment will continue through July.

Diana Moore, president of the Classroom Teachers Association, said it was time to settle.

Orange County teachers have reached an agreement on their health insurance ()

'Teachers were more concerned about being without health insurance than the plans or increase in premiums,' she said.

The union and district signed an agreement on health insurance at the bargaining table on Thursday.

Teachers will have three options, all administered by Cigna, including one that is brand new this year:

Plan A includes a limited Central Florida physician network with a $250 individual deductible before coverage begins. There is no cost per pay period for individual coverage and 10 percent coinsurance. The plan will cost employees less than this year.

Plan B, a new plan, is a health reimbursement account with a $1,500 in-network deductible, with the district kicking in the first $750. The plan costs employees $18.64 per pay period for individual coverage.

Plan C, the network premium plan, has no deductible before coverage begins, costs $18.64 per pay period for individual coverage and has 20 percent coinsurance. This reflects a cost increase for employees over the current year because the plan was losing money for the district, which is self-insured.

A fourth, basic plan used by fewer than 5 percent of district employees has been eliminated.

Moore said concerns over losing health insurance were overblown, but the union was able to get the district to agree to conduct a 'stop-loss' policy study and project long-term savings that could come from using a Cigna wellness plan.

Negotiations were also tied to resolving concerns about teacher assessment plans and timely printing of class rosters, Moore said.