By Steven Allen Adams
The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON — The finance board for West Virginia’s Public Employee Insurance Agency recently approved slight premium increases and other fee hikes for the state’s health coverage program beginning in July, though lawmakers had questions about possible changes.
The Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and PEIA met Monday morning during December legislative interim meetings at the State Capitol Building.PEIA Director Brent Wolfingbarger updated lawmakers on the changes approved by the PEIA Finance Board last week for the new plan year beginning on July 1, 2026.
The fiscal year 2027 PEIA financial plan proposal for both the state fund and non-state fund (county and city governments) includes a 3% aggregate premium increase for both employees and Medicare/non-Medicare retirees — much less than the 14% premium increase for state employees, 16% increase for local government employees and 12% increase for retirees that went into effect earlier this year.“There was a period of time between 2018 and 2022 that PEIA didn’t see any premium increases at all, even though our health care expenses were going through the roof,” Wolfingbarger said. “And that required us to overcompensate the last couple of years to bring our premiums back in line with where health care expenses are. So, we wanted to make sure that we did not repeat those mistakes in the past and that we would have prudent premium increases as necessary to make sure the plan didn’t come out of alignment.”
The fiscal year 2027 PEIA financial plan proposal for both the state fund and non-state fund (county and city governments) includes a 3% aggregate premium increase for both employees and Medicare/non-Medicare retirees — much less than the 14% premium increase for state employees, 16% increase for local government employees and 12% increase for retirees that went into effect earlier this year.“There was a period of time between 2018 and 2022 that PEIA didn’t see any premium increases at all, even though our health care expenses were going through the roof,” Wolfingbarger said. “And that required us to overcompensate the last couple of years to bring our premiums back in line with where health care expenses are. So, we wanted to make sure that we did not repeat those mistakes in the past and that we would have prudent premium increases as necessary to make sure the plan didn’t come out of alignment.”
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