POTTSTOWN PA – Hit hard by unexpected, and unexpectedly large, payments for Pottsgrove School District employees’ health care during the past year, the Board of School Directors decided Tuesday (June 26, 2012) to shelter its self-funded health insurance program beneath the protective wing of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Schools Trust. The move should save it money and provide some employees with opportunities for improved benefits, directors agreed.
The trust, called “SEPaST,” is a division of the Norristown-based Montgomery County Intermediate Unit. It represents Pottsgrove and several other districts in a consortium that uses expanded buying power to negotiate for employee coverages at lower cost. Locally, the Pottstown and Perkiomen Valley school districts also are SEPaST members.
SEPaST was recommended by Pottsgrove Business Administrator David Nester, who said he favored it and its management philosophy over that of a competitor, the Bucks/Montgomery County Schools Joint Labor Management Health Care Consortium. The board unanimously confirmed the choice in a two-year agreement.
Pottsgrove began searching for health insurer options earlier during the just-ended academic year, when its own negotiations with a unit of Independence Blue Cross fell apart. Ironically, SEPaST will provide Independence Blue Cross coverage “with better discounts” than Pottsgrove might have bargained for on its own, Nester told board members.
As part of the agreement, Pottsgrove must keep two months’ worth of premium payments available to SEPaST in a trust account. It will total about $1 million, Nester acknowledged, and requires saving money – from budget surpluses or reducing district expenses elsewhere – during the next 12 months. But first, Nester added, the district must make up for a $500,000 shortfall related to costs from the past 12 months. Pottsgrove will cover most of that by depleting a $445,000 reserve associated with the former plan, he said.
Related:
- As Recommended, Pottsgrove In Health Insurance Trust
- To Lower Health Care Costs, ‘Grove Eyes Consortiums
- Health Care Law Provisions Add To Pottsgrove Budget
Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ June 26 meeting):
- As Recommended, Pottsgrove In Health Insurance Trust
- Pottsgrove Personnel Decisions Affect 11 Positions
- Pottsgrove School Board Clean Up Final Budget Details
- Payments For Ringing Rocks Await A Soccer Field Fix
- Pottsgrove Asks To Study Trail At Buchert Road School
- Pottsgrove Final Budget Carries 2.8-Percent Tax Hike
- Cherico, Veteran ‘Grove Volunteer, Selected As Director
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[...] As Recommended, Pottsgrove In Health Insurance Trust The school district saves money, and some of its employees may win better benefits, its business administrator said. [...]
[...] As Recommended, Pottsgrove In Health Insurance Trust The school district saves money, and some of its employees may win better benefits, its business administrator said. [...]
[...] As Recommended, Pottsgrove In Health Insurance Trust The school district saves money, and some of its employees may win better benefits, its business administrator said. [...]