Schools
BTSD: Health Insurance Consortium May Save District Millions
The effort could save the district millions of dollars in insurance costs, says superintendent.
The Bristol Township School District announced at a Tuesday planning meeting that they are attempting to make a "health insurance consortium." If finalized, the consortium, according to district Superintendent Samuel Lee, could save the district millions of dollars.
The Bristol Township School District is just one of 15 other districts that decided to form the consortium. Other districts involved in the health insurance consortium include Bristol Borough, Newhope/Solebury, Quakertown and Centerbucks.
Lee said the goal of the consortium is to jointly hunt for the best deal for comparable insurance coverage for all the districts involved in the group.
Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"The hope is that we, as a united entity, can feasibly provide (healthcare) coverage comparable to what the district has now, but at a significantly reduced cost," Lee said.
The school district became aware of the idea when several Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and Bristol Township Education Association (BTEA) members informed them of a similar consortium in Western Pennsylvania.
Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Since its inception in 2001, over 40 Western PA school districts have joined together as the Allegheny County School Health Insurance Consortium (ACSHIC.)
In a February 2011 renewal document, the organization claims that it is a "recognized model for … providing the best quality health care plans … for Allegheny County school entities."
According to Lee, through the group's deal making, ACSHIC has managed to lock-in a health insurance plan that has not only maintained same level of dental and full medical coverage, but has in fact not seen a single rate increase in over two years.
"They are doing something great out there, and we hope to replicate some of that success here. We are all excited about this," Lee said.
In contrast to ACSHIC's no-rate increase trust, just last year the Bristol Township School District's health insurance rose almost 18 percent, adding additional costs to the district somewhere in the low millions.
"The trend is not good. It's going through the roof … we need a way to curb that trend, or reverse it completely," Lee said.
The consortium, Lee believes, is the answer to that trend.
Currently, the plans are still very preliminary. Lee warns that they will not see a finalized plan until the end of the year at the earliest.
Whatever health insurance plan the consortium finalizes on will cover approximately 11,200 administrators, teachers and faculty in all 15 districts currently in the consortium. A more than 800 of that 11,200 are Bristol Township School District faculty and administrators.
