Health premium negotiation helps Region One budget

FALLS VILLAGE — The Region One Board of Education got good news about insurance costs at a budget workshop meeting Thursday, March 11.

Business Manager Sam Herrick told the board that negotiations with Anthem had reduced the increase in premiums to the point that Housatonic Valley Regional High School Principal Gretchen Foster was able to restore some items to the high school budget and still have the overall Region One budget increase remain modest at 1.79 percent, or $253,788 out of a total budget of $14,396,304.

Region One serves a six-town district that includes Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon. The Region One budget has three parts: the regional high school, Pupil Services, which covers a wide variety of services including special education, and the central district office.

Foster said the insurance savings allowed the board to reinstate a 0.4 position in the physical education and health department, which also avoids the necessity of having a teacher from another department fill in.

Also added back into the high school budget were $6,400 in the custodial line, $5,000 in unemployment insurance and $5,000 to cover a change in an individual’s health-care plan.

Another $5,000 was added for out-of-district services for some students.

But the number juggling isn’t over. In an e-mail Friday, March 12, Herrick said that while the final offer from Anthem contained an overall increase of 11.53 percent (with the renewal on the High Deductible Health Plan down from 35.2 percent to 19.1 percent), there are still alternatives. The All Boards Committee of the regional board met last week and  “asked our broker [KONA HR Consulting] to compare the Aetna plan to the Anthem plan, specifically comparing the network of providers. Once this information is available, the buying group will convene a meeting.â€�

The final choice of health insurance plan for the school district has a direct impact not only on the six towns’ own education budgets but their municipal budgets as well. Employees at the six elementary schools and town employees are covered in the Region One health insurance plan.

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