Educator: Wait 'til dust settles

Kevin Kopp, principal at High Pointe Elementary School in Nixa, is chairman of the Nixa Public Schools’ health committee, which helps develop its employee benefits package and district-wide wellness policy. 

He believes the reform package could be beneficial to the district’s 592 employees, but he’s waiting for more details to emerge before culling out specific positive elements.

“As an educator, I would not want to see the quality and timeliness of health care diminish,” said Kopp. “The employees of our school district currently have an effective plan and quality care.”  

On that front, the reform may hold some good news. Group plans, or coverage that was in effect with enrollees when the reform bill was signed on March 23, are grandfathered in. While it’s not completely clear, indications are that those plans can be changed without losing grandfather status, according to a health reform analysis from Texas-based actuarial and consulting firm Lewis & Ellis Inc.

Since legislators are just beginning to craft the rules that will govern reform, Kopp said it’s too soon to pass judgment on the plan’s merits.

“I think we are in a wait-and-see game,” Kopp said. “We are going to have to get some hard facts before we can make a judgment. … We have learned in the educational community to wait until the dust settles to see what we actually are working with.”

Still, that’s nothing new for the public school district.

“From past experiences, many times what we are told now and what actually happens can vary, so we will address issues as they arise, if they arise at all,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]