Benefit plans offered by the nation’s school boards, including Oregon’s, are more generous than those provided by other employers Mercer Human Resources Consulting surveyed.* 

For example:

• Districts pay an average annual cost per employee of $6,000 vs. $5,646 paid by all employers. Those surveyed expect this amount to go up 14 percent for schools and 13 percent for all employers this year.
• 21 percent of school districts offer traditional indemnity or fee-for-service plans, the most expensive type, as one of their offerings compared to 8 percent of employers nationwide.
• 96 percent of districts offer dental coverage vs. 66 percent of American employers.
• 57 percent of school retirees have access to health benefit plans; only 6 percent of employees generally have access to such benefits.

School districts are playing “catch up” with the rest of the country in sharing costs with employees. Forty-two percent of school boards plan to increase employee cost sharing compared to 25 percent of all employers.

“Education offers some of the richest benefit packages around today,” says Cynthia Chilton, Health and Group Benefits Consultant at Mercer Human Resources Consulting. “With the crisis in school funding, it’s not surprising school boards are asking employees to pay a greater share.”

*Mercer Human Resources Consulting conducts an annual survey of American employers’ health plans. In 2003, nearly 3,000 organizations took part. The results are accurate within a range of plus or minus 3 percent, and represent more than 90 million full- and part-time employees. 

2003 Mercer Human Resource Consulting National Health Benefits Survey