State college staff can access group health plan, but Gov. DeSantis vetoes $80M to offset increased costs

Faculty and staff working at the state’s 28 colleges can now access the state group health insurance plan. But the increased costs of expanding access to those employees will have to come somewhere out of the existing budgets of the colleges.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation (HB 5101) allowing state college staff to enroll in the health insurance plan. But DeSantis vetoed the $80 million lawmakers agreed to put in the budget to offset the increased costs associated with potential new enrollment.

State workers — including the Governor, Cabinet members, legislators, legislative staff and employees at state agencies — have access to the state group health insurance plan. So do state staff in the state university system.

It was Senate Republicans who pushed to let colleges join the state group health insurance program, even though economists projected that the trust fund that pays for the benefits is in danger of running into a deficit in Fiscal Year 2024-25.

To help erase the projected deficit, budget negotiators agreed to add $550 million to the trust fund. The proposed budget includes $350 million of general revenue and $200 million in federal money that has been redirected from previous expenditures.

This is the third year that the Legislature agreed to infuse hundreds of millions into the state employee health insurance trust fund to keep it solvent. Despite the deficits, the Legislature has not increased the monthly health insurance premiums they and other state workers covered by the plan pay for the benefit.

It’s a benefit that most lawmakers take advantage of, according to data obtained by Florida Politics.

Ninety-seven members of the House are enrolled in the state group health insurance plan, according to Jenna Box Sarkissian, the Director of Open Government & Special Projects for House Speaker Paul Renner.

Thirty-four Senators tap into the state group health insurance plan, according to Katherine Betta, a spokesperson for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.