School District Keeping Health Insurance Down by Negotiating
Sunday July 2, 2006
Wisconson schools have successfully been able to keep their rising health insurance costs down by negotiating directly with the insurance company.
How did they do this? Well, their previous health insurance was administered by a different company than the company who was actually the health insurance company. When their rates started rising, they decided to dump the administering company and deal directly with the health insurance company.
Maybe your company could do the same?
I am concerned about what teachers in CA are paying for their health insurance both for themselves and their family. My husband is a teacher in Azusa Unified School District in S CA.
I have been working for a company that I have now left and I have the option to keep my medical for my family through Cobra. The cost for which is $846 per month for the entire family through a fabulous EPO plan. The school offers an EPO plan that is not even close the the benefits of my plan at a cost of $1306.41 and this is with the school district supposedly picking up some of the cost!
For this inferior plan (PacificCare POS) the school district is charged $22,617.40; the school district picks up $9,553.27 and the teacher picks up $13,064.10. My plan paid by my company for the family (Empire Blue Cross/Blue Sheild EPO)costs the company $10,064.10 for the entire family; my company picked up 75% of that cost.
My question is how can an inferior plan (PacificCare POS) cost more than double to the school district (then Blue Cross/Blue Sheild)!? The school district has a tremendous amount of teachers to cover, which should bring the rates down. How can this get fixed? Any suggestions???