Note: SDPB employees are covered under the state health plan.
The state Senate is passing a bill that adds premiums to state employee health care coverage.
It’s a proposal backed by the governor’s office. Supporters say it gives state employees more choices in their health coverage and boosts employee pay. Critics say it’s the opposite.
For the past few years, unexpected health costs for employees have cost the state millions of dollars.
Governor Kristi Noem wants to offer state employees a new, four-tiered health plan that she says will save the state 12 million dollars.
Republican State Senator Jean Hunhoff is chair of the state appropriations committee. She says health insurance is a part of any compensation package, but Republicans also want to raise state employee pay.
“Is there something we can do with our insurance and those dollars that we’ve been filling that hole with every year? And use those dollars and use those to reinvest those in salaries so we can bring that up,” Hunhoff says.
Hunhoff says the state’s aging workforce is adding additional risk to the state’s health plan. She says the state is not attracting younger employees.
Eric Ollila is with the South Dakota State Employees Organization, a group that lobbies on behalf of state employees.
Ollila says the state hasn’t released hard data on the cost of the health plan this year, which will come later this session.
He agrees state employees are paid under market value. He says the state wants to address that by charging state employees for their health plans.
“And then using the state employees own premiums to give state employees enhanced compensation,” Ollila says. “The numbers just don’t seem to work right, we’d like to see what’s behind them.”
The bill passed 27 to 7 and now heads to the house.
