Akron
Beacon Journal...
Coverage pool
Health benefits represent big slice of school and government costs. The
Senate has good reason to revisit proposal to require pooling
Published on Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Ohio’s 612 school districts make schools a prime target in the search
for efficiencies and savings during budget crises. Few aspects of
school budgets generate as much concern as the rapid growth in
health-care costs. Not surprisingly, health-care benefits for school
employees once again are a key part of negotiations on a new two-year
budget.
Five years ago, state lawmakers took steps to exert some control to
reduce district health-care costs. It created the School Employees
Health Care Board with the task to identify and share best practices in
managing costs and to develop a plan for pooled purchasing of health
insurance. A study of changes implemented since then indicates the
effort is yielding results, districts spending about $154 million less
in 2010 than they would have spent. The study also projected that
savings in the range of $292 million to $318 million can be generated
under various scenarios if implemented over the next two years.
Gov. John Kasich included in his budget a proposal to authorize the
Department of Administrative Services within a year to study a
statewide health-care pooling plan for school districts and local
governments. Among the scenarios, the study would consider whether to
make health-care pooling voluntary or mandatory for districts and local
governments, and whether to set up regional pools, about five of them,
or a single statewide pool. On the basis of the findings, the Kasich
proposal also would authorize the department to begin implementation of
the program.
The concept of pooling is not radical by any stretch of the
imagination. Pools larger than a single or a handful of districts offer
better leverage to negotiate favorable premium and benefits packages.
They spread the cost across a broader, mixed population, enabling the
healthiest as well as the very sick access to coverage at a reasonable
cost. The advantages include a reduction in administrative costs.
Unfortunately, the House stripped the authorization for detailed study
and implementation out of its version of the budget bill. It followed a
time-honored delaying tactic, settling for more study — less focused
than the one the Kasich proposed.
It is encouraging that the Senate Finance Committee seems inclined to
revive the proposal. If the School Employees Health Care Board has done
anything the past five years, it has provided the studies and data on
which to base a concrete plan of action. To be sure, the point is made
correctly that many school districts now participate in health-care
purchasing consortiums and best practices, such as promoting disease
management and wellness programs and conducting eligibility audits,
that lower spending. Given the funding challenges schools face, the
task is to stretch every health-care dollar as far as it can go.
Requiring regional pools promises the leverage necessary to drive a
better bargain with insurers.
Read it at the Akron Beacon Journal
|
