- By Marcia E. Lynch
- News
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The grant award will enable the county’s municipalities, working together through the Council of Governments, to establish the Tompkins Health Care Consortium. The inter-municipal health care consortium will develop a comprehensive employee health insurance program, which will be available to all municipalities in Tompkins County, with the collaboration projected to produce considerable municipal savings in employee health insurance costs. Rapidly escalating fringe benefit costs are identified as one of the largest drivers of increases in local tax rates.
Tompkins County applied for the funds on behalf of all of the county’s 17 municipalities, which make up the Council of Governments. One of seven SMSI grants announced yesterday by Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, the award is the second largest awarded statewide during this round. The SMSI grant program helps municipalities achieve cost savings through shared services and regional collaboration. The TCCOG proposal, funded through the SMSI grant, has been cited by the New York State Association of Counties as a model for inter-municipal collaboration to reduce municipal health insurance expenses.
“Speaking for the members of the Tompkins County Council of Governments, we couldn't be more pleased with this news of being awarded an SMSI Grant for more than $266,000 to develop a health care consortium,” says Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber, chair of TCCOG. “Looking to reduce the cost of the health insurance to our taxpayers countywide was the signature action of the TCCOG. We envision a potential savings of more than $5 million in the first five years by pooling of all or most municipal employees into one large group.”
After more than a year of discussion among the municipalities, the Council of Governments was officially formed in August 2006. As its first initiative, TCCOG resolved to enter into an agreement to explore formation of the health care consortium. Through a larger group size, the Consortium is expected to increase the municipalities’ ability to negotiate savings for both health care and prescription drug coverage, with centralized benefits management producing better service at a reduced overall cost. Uniformity in coverage across municipal lines also is expected to improve health benefits for municipal employees, especially for those employed by the county’s smaller municipalities.
Key tasks associated with design and development of the consolidated health insurance program, to be supported by the SMSI grant, include selecting one or more consultants to guide TCCOG in researching, designing and implementing the Tompkins Health Care Consortium; developing the Consortium agreement; conducting a comprehensive utilization review of employee health insurance benefits; analyzing potential program designs, then designing the new comprehensive health insurance program; selecting a health insurance provider; implementing administrative efficiencies; educating employees about the new program and designing incentives to encourage employee participation; and establishing enrollment procedures.
Because of the support provided through the SMSI grant, this process will be accomplished at minimal local cost. The Consortium target for implementing the new health insurance program is Fall 2009.
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