Christine Jordan Sexton
State employees’ health insurance rates would stay put until at least July 2025 under the proposed state budget Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled Tuesday.
DeSantis is proposing to spend an additional $338.2 million in general revenue to keep the state from increasing costs for the employees who rely on the state group health insurance plan for their health care coverage.
As of June 30, 342,939 people relied on the state group health insurance program for their coverage, of which 167,488 were employees or former employees, according to state estimates.
State employees haven’t had an increase in their health insurance premiums in nearly 20 years. And despite efforts to fundamentally revamp the health insurance program in the past, the state health insurance benefits have remained largely the same.
Economists earlier this year projected that there would be a nearly $349 million shortfall in the trust fund used to pay the health care costs of state employees. If changes aren’t made, that deficit is expected to increase to $910.3 million by June 2026.
This would not be the first time the Legislature agreed to transfer additional funds into the employee health insurance trust fund. Most recently the Legislature transferred $200 million into the fund in the current budget year.
