NC teachers say they’ll be saddled with higher bills from health benefit changes
When one of Erin Boyd Odom’s four children needed a minor surgery this month, it cost her about $5,000 out-of-pocket on her husband’s health plan as a public school teacher.
With proposed changes to the State Health Plan, the bill could be much higher this time next year. Monthly costs would go up as well, with higher premiums and deductibles for active state employees.
“The out-of-pocket costs and co-pays are going to be increasing exponentially at a time when salaries aren’t even keeping up with inflation,” she told The Charlotte Observer, after seeing the proposed changes to the state health plan. “Even with my salary, things are still tight.”
Earlier this month, the State Health Plan Board of Trustees voted to allow premiums to be set based on salary tiers. The change is one strategy to “avoid a looming fiscal crisis,” according to a news release from the board. The plan currently insures over 480,000 active state employees.
Many educators are worried because educator salaries in North Carolina lag behind the cost of living in many areas of the state, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. The state ranks 38th in the nation for average teacher pay and 42nd for starting teacher pay.
“The Plan has been spending more than it has been bringing in, and it’s out of cash reserves to help bridge the financial gap,” the release said.
The Plan is currently facing a $507 million deficit, according to the Board. It’s projected to grow to up to $1.4 million by 2027.
Meanwhile, the state government projects flat revenue for the 2025-26 fiscal year and a shortfall for 2026-27 due to tax cuts, according to the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management.
One salary-based benefits proposal presented to the health board would raise monthly premiums by an average of $30 — from $20 more a month for the lowest-paid employees to $50 more a month for those who make more than $100,000.
One high-savings option would increase the 70/30 plan’s individual deductible from $1,500 to $5,000 and the out-of-pocket maximum from $5,900 to $9,000, though state officials said this option was extreme.
“This is probably a bridge too far for me in some cases,” said Thomas Friedman, the new executive administrator of the State Health Plan.
Still, it’s likely state employees will see increases to premiums and deductibles next year.
“It appears that a significant amount of cost is going to shift to the employee,” Kelly Kluttz, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Chief Financial Officer, told the CMS Board of Education at a budget planning meeting last week. “There will be an increase in monthly costs for everyone but higher ones for higher-paid employees, and that would look like increased deductibles and increasing cost of prescriptions.”
No premiums have been changed yet. The State Health Plan Board will vote on any such changes this summer.
Odom said the change would make her consider seeking additional coverage.
“My husband absolutely loves his job and doesn’t want to do anything else, but it’s just getting so hard,” she said. “If someone is a single parent with three kids or something like that … I don’t know how they are going to make it.”
NC Association of Educators
North Carolina Association of Educators President Tamika Walker Kelly spoke to the State Health Plan Board during public comment at its meeting Feb. 7. She said rising health care costs, coupled with low educator pay, would drive teachers out of state or out of teaching entirely.
“We cannot afford the risk of pricing our educators out of the profession,” she said.
Odom shares Kelly’s concern.
“There’s so many teachers that feel completely demoralized and unappreciated already, and people could decide they can go work in neighboring states and make more,” Odom said. “It’s going to affect the students ultimately because people are going to leave.”
Kelly said she believes it is unfair for educators to bear the brunt of costs while many of them struggle to cover the cost of living.
“Our crisis was created by state lawmakers who have failed to provide salaries that meet rising costs,” she said. “It is the state lawmakers who should pay to close the health care gap, not our school employees.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
