Health Insurance

INSURANCE COSTS MAY SPUR TOWNS TO COALESCE:

Health insurance premiums for employees in the town of Webster increased $120,000 last year. In Penfield, the increase was more than $96,000.

Town officials say such costs have been climbing 10 percent to 15 percent for the past several years, prompting officials to study whether buying health insurance as a group could get them a better price.

"My costs are absolutely skyrocketing," said Webster Supervisor Ronald Nesbitt.

Nesbitt said he is searching for "anything that can lower these 10 percent increases that we've been having every year."

School districts in Monroe County joined together in the 1990s to get better health insurance premiums, said Jody Siegle, executive director of the Monroe County School Boards Association.

"The process of joining together for health insurance has saved millions and millions of dollars," Siegle said.

Penfield Supervisor George Wiedemer is chairing a committee of the Monroe County Council of Governments looking into the idea. He's awaiting the results of a survey of municipal officials to gather information about differences among communities regarding health insurance.
...
Although Wiedemer hopes to have a plan outlined this year, he realizes that it is unrealistic to expect to have all municipal employees under one umbrella quickly.

Most municipalities have established health insurance coverage under multi-year contracts. Changing those arrangements would require renegotiating contracts or waiting for them to expire and including the proposal in future talks.

Wiedemer would like to hire a consultant, with the cost shared among municipalities, to thoroughly research the issue and present town and village officials with a list of options.

Bill Mulligan, deputy supervisor for Henrietta, said he is "very optimistic" about the idea of forming a coalition to buy health insurance.

"I think a concerted effort like that makes a lot of sense and hopefully there could be substantial savings to the different municipalities," Mulligan said.