By Tony Marrero, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BROOKSVILLE — Hernando school officials learned this week that Blue Cross and Blue Shield will hit the district with average health insurance premium increases of 9 percent this coming year.
"Not as bad as it could be," superintendent Bryan Blavatt said Wednesday.
The carrier had initially come in with a 12.6 percent hike but came down after an initial round of talks. Now, district officials and union representatives will sit down in the coming weeks to hash out how much, if any, employees will have to cover.
"It's tough, because you hate to pass that on to the employees, especially (since) in reality, our folks are generally underpaid," Blavatt said.
It's too early to tell what stance the teachers union will take because it's still unclear how each individual plan will be affected, said Joe Vitalo, president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association.
The union pushed unsuccessfully last year for the district to contribute more for employees on the family plans. Last year, Blue Cross proposed a 21.5 percent increase that eventually came down to 14.5 percent.