The TRS Board of Trustees voted on Thursday, April 28, 2022, to move TRS-ActiveCare to regional ratings to ensure prices reflect the cost of health care in each region. In doing so, none of the 20 Education Service Center regions will see a price increase for the 2022-23 plan year, which begins September 1.
This is also due in part to additional Coronavirus Relief Funds the governor and Texas legislative leadership have allocated to TRS. $435 million has been allocated to offset inflated medical cost trends that would have driven a premium increase in TRS-ActiveCare. The funds come from the federal CARES Act. They are in addition to $286 million in federal ARPA relief funds the Legislature granted TRS through Senate Bill 8 (third special session of 2021) to defray COVID-19 related claims cost in TRS-Care and TRS-ActiveCare.
See the rates on the TRS website. These are the total premiums for each plan before the employer’s contribution. TRS Plan Highlights with full coverage details will be available on the TRS website in early May.
TRS will host regional roundtables with district leaders in June to share data and discuss solutions for lowering health care costs.
About Regional Ratings
During the 87th Regular Legislative Session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1444, which was designed to give TRS-ActiveCare employers more flexibility, while protecting the stability of the plan.
Prior to SB 1444, state law did not provide employers the ability to opt out after joining TRS-ActiveCare and required school districts and certain risk pools with 500 or fewer employees to participate in TRS-ActiveCare. This is no longer required and employers can opt out and routinely evaluate their options.
As a result, TRS ActiveCare’s new rates reflect the costs of health care in different regions of Texas. TRS will regionally rate plans in the 2022-23 plan year and moving forward.
Regions were set by the 20 Texas ESCs. The rate is based on the ESC of the employer.
Regional prices vary based on the:
- number of doctors and hospitals in the area
- ability to access care
- demographics of enrolled participants in each region, including ages, gender and health issues
- historical health care costs in each region
- ratio of individual policy holders to policy holders with dependents in each region
Read these FAQs about regional pricing to learn more.
Download and view the slides from the April 28 TRS Board meeting.
