Chapter 78 should be a potential game changer in the area of employee benefits and collective bargaining. Now that school employees will contribute a percentage of the cost of the premiums, most for the first time, they will start to become “consumers” of healthcare. Since the SEHBP must offer alternate plan designs to reduce the premium cost of some plans, employees may be forced to consider benefit options that were previously too "corporate" such as High Deductible Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts in order to reduce their cost of participation. In this session, we will examine Chapter 78, including the requirement to implement Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and how it is likely to change the collective bargaining landscape as it relates to employee benefits.