Some 9,000 Hawaiçi teachers will see their medical expenses double starting July 1 due to a cut in their medical benefits.

The insurance claims of Hawaiçi State Teachers Association members will no longer be processed through the state's largest health insurance provider and claims administrator, the Hawaii Medical Service Association.
Many teachers aren't happy about the move.
The self-funded medical plan of the HSTA has covered 90 percent of health care costs. Members will be switched to a new plan offering 80 percent payment, administered by HMA Inc., an Arizona-based company.
Switching administrators and cutting benefits was necessary to keep costs in check, said Rod Shinno, administrator of the HSTA's Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association Trust, which provides medical insurance to its members but farms out the administration to a third party.
"In order to keep the employee contribution level the same as it is now, we needed to take both steps," Shinno said.
Employees will pay 20 percent of health care costs, rather than 10 percent under the old plan. The new plan also has a maximum lifetime payout of $1 million, compared to $2 million under the old plan. The annual copayment maxiumum -- the total out-of-pocket expenses before the insurance pays 100 percent of the cost -- has risen to $7,500 from $6,000 for a family.
Members will have to choose their health care providers from a list created by HMA. But that means teachers will have fewer choices, said Larry Denis, a first-grade teacher at Kapiçolani Elementary School.
"A lot of Hilo providers aren't participating with HMA, so HMA wants us -- the members -- to nominate providers," Denis said. "They're making us do their work."
Now that doctors and pharmacies have learned about the switch, more are signing up to be HMA providers, Shinno said.
Other health plans offered by HSTA -- such as Kaiser, HDS Dental, VSP Vision and life insurance -- are not affected by the change.
VEBA Trust lost $7 million over the past two years from using HMSA as a claims processor after HMSA increased its reimbursements to doctors, Shinno said. The higher reimbursements and associated cost increases to employees were unbeknownst to the trust at the time, it told members in a June 11 letter informing them of the change. The VEBA Board of Trustees made the decision to reduce benefits and switch administrators at a May 30 meeting.
"We faced increased costs to employees, reduced benefits or both," Shinno said. "There would have been increases for the family plan of almost $2,000 a year. We didn't feel that should be passed on to our teachers."
Under the new contract with HMA, VEBA trustees will have to approve any increase in reimbursements that HMA makes to providers, allowing them to have greater oversight of cost increases, according to the letter.
"HMSA submitted proposals. We looked at the rates they wanted to charge, and it was significantly higher than what we could get through HMA," Shinno said.
Trustees felt the action would benefit the majority of teachers, Shinno said.
Denis said he's been with HMSA since he was born and is saddened by the switch.
"I've talked to colleagues around the island and state, and not one is happy about this decision," Denis said. "It would have been nice to have had the option to decide this. They told us in mid-June and it goes into effect July 1."
Shinno acknowledged that teachers have anxiety switching over to the new insurance administrator.
"We understand a lot of teachers out there are concerned about it," Shinno said. "If people feel there are benefits that they had under HMSA that they're not being offered now, we will look at that."