MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Utility and service providers in the Morgantown area have started to adjust to the recent increases in rates for the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA).
After officials with the agency reported that rates will increase as much as 16 percent across several different plans, representatives with the Mountain Line Transit Authority as well as the Morgantown Utility Board have chosen to either make an adjustment or make plans for future insurance coverage after recent meetings that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mountain Line General Manager Maria Smith reported that while the firm intends to maintain a 75/25 split for monthly premiums and deductibles under PEIA, the recent cost increase led them to explore other insurance options.
“I had gone through some other health insurance options that are out there and available,” said Smith in response to the PEIA increases. “At the point where we see something that is going to be better for our employees and more affordable, then we’ll keep an eye out for those options,” she said.
According to Smith, the recent increases will have cost Mountain Line over $200,000 once the increases are fully implemented in 2025. This accounts for both the increases back in 2024 and in 2023, both of which cost Mountain Line around $91,000 for each year. With around 65 employees on staff and the maintenance of bus ridership programs along with general maintenance of 39 buses, Smith expressed that the now over $110,000 increase that is expected as a result of the increases in 2025 is making staying a part of PEIA tougher to justify if the trend continues.
“It’s a little disheartening as an agency, we’re here to provide a public service, and the more expensive it is for us to operate, the less flexibility we have,” said Smith. “We want to grow, we want to put hours of service on the road, and we look at decisions like this and it is really hard,” she said.
The costs of the increase will be split among Mountain Line employees and the firm.
The Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) responded to the increases in a similar fashion, with the MUB board of directors approving a switch on coverage plans under PEIA during their regular meeting Tuesday. While MUB will maintain full payments for premiums and deductibles for employees, it was unanimously approved to move from PEIA Option A to Option C, which decreases the amount of premium coverage but increases the deductible coverage. This in turn saved MUB over $200,000 versus what could’ve been an increase similarly seen by Mountain Line if they stayed on PEIA Option A.
“We looked at other plans within PEIA, and we are recommending that we move from Plan A to Plan C as our base plan for all employees,” said MUB General Manager Mike McNulty during Tuesday’s meeting.
If PEIA rate increases continue past 2025, there appears to be some real consideration from two local service providers to make further adjustments to their insurance coverage. While Mountain Line has been more open to considering other options, MUB has endorsed staying on PEIA for the time being, with their firm able to cover 100 percent of insurance premiums and deductibles for their over 100 employees. As PEIA increases are discussed by local organizations across Monongalia County, the potential need to make long-term adjustments is becoming harder to ignore.
“We talked to some other folks that have PEIA, and we looked at Plan C, Plan C is a high deductible and a low premium plan, and that scares people off sometimes because it’s a high deductible,” said MUB Comptroller Chip Royce on the potential effect it could have on employees in the future.