State workers’ spouse coverage to go up

Monday, Aug. 12, 2002 | 8:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Come January, the health insurance premiums for about 2,000 state workers who cover their spouses will increase by 9 percent.

But for the estimated 3,000 state employees whose policy covers their children, premiums will decrease by 7 percent.

Premiums for retired state workers will decrease anywhere from 10 to 20 percent.

The directors of the Public Employees Benefits Program set the new rates Friday for the system, which provides coverage for an estimated 55,000 individuals.

The special session of the Legislature allocated $18 million to keep the system from becoming insolvent. Without the emergency appropriation, rates would have gone up 21 percent and there may have been benefit reductions.

The directors have to set the rates for the various groups based on the medical care experience of each segment starting the new benefit year.

The state pays the full cost of the monthly premium for a worker, who must pick up the cost for dependents. For an employee who covers his or her spouse, the new rate will be $147 in the self-funded plan.

The estimated 3,000 workers whose policies take care of their children will receive a 7 percent decrease to $112. And the 2,300 employees who have family coverage will remain the same at $256.

The board decided that the premium for the 1,300 retired state workers will decrease 21 percent to $104 and the 400 retirees with a spouse will go down 10 percent to $406.

There will be big increases for employees of local governments who have joined the state health insurance program. The average increase for an active non-state worker will be about 45 percent. For a single worker the new rate will be $468 a month. And for a non-state worker and spouse, the rate will be $920.

For non-state retirees in the system, the rates are going up an average of 105 percent. For a retiree, the new rate in January will be $711. For the non-state retiree and spouse, the rate will be $1,435 a month.

Marty Bibb, representing the Retired Public Employees of Nevada, said he was "shocked" at the major increases for non-state workers.