The school board voted unanimously to accept the insurance committee’s recommendation to switch to HealthPartners as its health insurance provider. The move comes as school districts across the region are grappling with insurance premium increases of 30 percent to 40 percent.
By contrast, the Ely district will see only a 0.5 percent increase in health insurance costs, an annual revenue increase of just $4,874 for the carrier.
“We were very fortunate,” said Superintendent Anne Oelke. “Our pool is running well, like our claims are running well.”
The district received several bids. By comparison, had the district gone with Blue Cross Blue Shield, the increase would have been significantly steeper. Their bid proposed a 15 percent rate hike with no rate cap for the second year, which would have meant an additional $138,662 in costs.
HealthPartners not only came in with the lower bid but also offered a 15 percent rate cap for year two, providing cost predictability for the district’s budget planning.

Minimal disruption for staff
Despite changing carriers, district employees will experience minimal disruption to their coverage. The new HealthPartners plan mirrors the current plan at a 99.8 percent similarity rate, meaning in-network providers and services will remain largely the same.
“The plan was as close to mirroring the plan that the staff currently has right now,” said Chair Rochelle Sjoberg.
The only area where employees may see changes is in prescription drug coverage, as formularies can vary between carriers and may change throughout the year.
Several bids had to be ruled out during the evaluation process because they weren’t comparable to the district’s current coverage or offered lesser benefits to staff members.
The district operates on a two-year insurance bidding cycle and has several different plan levels for employees to choose from.
HealthPartners will return to the district on October 29 to present detailed information about the plan changes and conduct cost analyses for employees at each coverage level.