Hellgate Elementary Superintendent Molly Blakely in Missoula remembers when her district was hit with a proposed 18% increase in the cost of its health insurance plan. She was in her first year leading the school.
“And then I sort of sat down and crunched the numbers, and I thought, ‘This is just impossible for people,’” Blakely told MTPR in an interview.
So began an annual wrestling match between Blakely’s district and insurers to keep health insurance premiums from rising too quickly for the school to afford. Annual bumps meant teachers were paying as much as $700 out of pocket each month.
It’s a national problem Montana lawmakers proposed fixing in a big way back in 2023. The state would provide a $40 million boost to get a new school health insurance trust off the ground – if it enrolled at least 150 districts and 12,000 employees before this summer.
The trust’s longtime strategy officer John Doran says they’ve now met those goals.
“Schools have needed this,” Doran said. “Schools have wanted this for two decades, and to have it become a reality is something very, very special.”
Doran says the trust will negotiate health insurance benefits and premiums on behalf of its members. The massive size of its membership will give it new bargaining power to keep prices low.
Superintendents like Molly Blakely say the trust could be a game changer, providing much-needed predictability. It’s set to begin enrolling members this July.
