Barely a month after the Hernando School Board voted 3-2 to move to a self-funded health insurance model, board members reversed course, voting 4-1 on Oct. 30 to remain fully insured with Florida Blue.
The move to ditch Florida Blue was an attempt to curb surging employee insurance premiums, which were set to increase 23.5% if the district remained with the insurer. By becoming self-insured, they would have kept the employee premium increase at 9.9% but also taken on significantly more risk in the process.
But at the Oct. 30 special meeting, the board announced that it had learned from Florida Blue that two employees were expected to have exceptionally high medical costs, making the self-insured route too risky for the district.
The board voted 4-1 to remain with Florida Blue but agreed to pursue a long-term goal of building an employee health clinic and ending its dependence on the insurance company. Board members Kayce Hawkins and Mark Johnson, who had supported the Sept. 22 vote to become self-insured, voted in favor along with board members Shannon Rodriguez and Kayce Hawkins.
Board member Susan Duval cast the lone no vote against remaining with Florida Blue. She accused the co...