IOWA FALLS — During Tuesday’s regular meeting, the Iowa Valley Community College Board of Directors approved transitioning to an Affordable Care Act plan, based on the recommendation of President Kristie Fisher. The meeting was held at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussions over the next year on this,” she said.

Fisher said an advisory board was created last year to gather data and come up with options the college can consider. She said it was important for her to get the process started before she leaves.

“This is simply a starting point,” she said. “What this does is simply allow us to have benchmarks.”

Board President Larry Johnson said the board has been working on this healthcare issue since he started serving. It is a discussion they have every spring.

“Health insurance has always been an issue and it’s going to continue to be because of the rising cost,” he said. “We have to do something to try to get it in a position where it is affordable to us, to our staff and will be attractive to keep people working for us. That’s our goal.”

The individual cost share in the new plan will be maintained at only five percent paid by the employee. There will also be no increase to the premiums for the next three years. The employee contribution for family coverage will increase 5 to 9 percent each year for three years. The goal is to have employees contributing 20 to 33 percent during the 2027 open enrollment period.

This will shift more of the cost of family health insurance away from the college, so the money can be used for salary compensation work. Fisher said the faculty association has also asked for a collaborative employee committee to talk about things that used to be in the contract.

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said. “We’ve heard so much over the last few years from employees that at a certain point, benefits only do so much if you don’t have it coming in to paychecks. I don’t know what the right level is — between 5 and 9 percent, but I think that gives a new precedent and the executive leadership team some room to work with the faculty and the employee benefits committee.”

In August, Angie Villhauer of Mercer told the board about the pros and cons of transitioning from a grandfathered insurance plan, which is what the college has. A health insurance plan is considered grandfathered if it was purchased before March 23, 2010. Significant changes cannot be made to grandfathered plans.

“This is an historic issue that has continued to compound over time because we can’t make changes to address these things annually because of the grandfathered plan,” Fisher said.

Moving away from the grandfathered plan will put the college in compliance with the Affordable Care Act, she said. Fisher added the transition is a big project, and they will continue to listen to employee concerns.

In other business:

Johnson said the college has three viable candidates for Fisher’s replacement. A decision has not yet been made, but added they have the right people in place to make the right one. The board is scheduled to announce a new president on Sept. 20. Fisher will begin her new job as president of Kirkwood Community College in October.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.