CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The PEIA Finance Board approved on Thursday a three percent deductible increase, along with a $200 increase in the spousal surcharge.
Over the last three years public employees have been subject to nearly a 50% increase in PEIA deductibles, something that people like Josh Keck, who is a professor at Mountwest Community and Technical College said has put public employees between a rock and a hard place financially.
“So you add that on top of all the other regular cost of living increases. I mean rent prices are insane. Housing prices are insane, new car prices are insane,” Keck said. “So you add all that on top of it. I mean every year for the last three years has been worse and worse and worse to where my budget doesn’t work anymore.”
The main thing raising concerns from many families on PEIA is the approved $200 increase to the spousal surcharge. For Keck that would make his spousal surcharge per month over $500.
“I took a big pay cut to go from private industry to teaching and that was predominantly because of PEIA ,and the family plan being as cheap as it was,” Keck said. “But with this spousal surcharge, that’s pretty much killed my budget. I have no ability now to save for retirement outside of the minimum that they take out of my check.”
Education West Virginia Co-President Dale Lee has contended throughout the PEIA public hearings over the last month that if premiums and deductibles are based on a tier system that is based on someone’s ability to pay then it should also be applied to the spousal surcharge.
“That should be based on the ability to pay to,” Lee said. “It just seems right that someone making $200,000 a year shouldn’t pay the same price as somebody making $20,000.”
The approved increases are set to go into effect July 1, 2026, but Lee said if state lawmakers act in the upcoming legislative session the increases can be avoided.
“If the legislature acts on some things like for the spouse surcharge, for example, if they change the statute where that is based on your ability to pay rather than the actual cost of the plan, that can change,” Lee said.
