WAPA's Gold Health Care Plan To Provide More Coverage for Dependents, Savings to Enrollees

Employees of the V.I. Water and Power Authority who subscribe to the authority’s Gold Health Care Plan will pay a smaller share of insurance costs.

During a Governing Board meeting on Thursday afternoon, members heard from Christian Bergstrom of the Gehring Group, WAPA’s employee benefits consultant. “With the proposed changes, WAPA is looking to improve its standings as a top choice employer,” Bergstrom said, before suggesting that the utility company offer dependents of its insured employees an 80/20 cost-sharing arrangement, instead of only providing 65 percent of dependent insurance coverage. The move to a more generous model, the consultant explained, would cost WAPA approximately $67,000 per year.

Employees with dependents, however, will realize significant savings - almost 43 percent. Those whose spouses are also covered would see costs drop from $249 to $142. Those with coverage for children would only pay $120, down from $210. And family coverage would be slashed from $338 to $193.

The long-term benefits Bergstrom listed were improvements to company morale, increased competitiveness when it comes to hiring talented workers, and reducing overall costs relating to recruitment and hiring. Changes to the Gold Plan’s dependent coverage brought the company more in line with the offerings from other agencies, particularly the V.I. Port Authority.