By TAYLOR STUCK
The Herald-Dispatch
(Herald-Dispatch photo by Sholten Singer)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State employees will see a slight increase in health insurance premiums again this year, but some of those employees may see higher or lower numbers, depending on their salary.
Under the Public Employees Insurance Agency, or PEIA, all premiums will rise 0.5 of a percent due to the 80/20 requirement and the state increasing employer’s premium payments by $10 million for the 2018-19 budget year.
The new plan also moves from having 10 separate salary index codes for premium determinations to just five in $30,000 increments from $0 to $120,000. The four coverage tiers are: employee only; employee and children; employee and spouse (no children); and family. The family with employee spouse tier, where two public employees are married to each other, will no longer be offered.
PEIA Director Ted Cheatham told the Joint Finance Committee during Monday’s interim meeting this was a form of a spousal penalty, meant to deter high-salary private sector spouses from relying on the state insurance.
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