Village of Massena officials switch health insurance coverage to Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield - WatertownDailyTimes.com

ARTICLE OPTIONS

MASSENA — Village of Massena officials say they expect to see significant savings by switching their health insurance coverage from the New York State Health Insurance Program’s Empire Plan to Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Treasurer Kevin Felt said, based on the program’s current enrollment for health coverage, officials were “anticipating and hoping” that the switch would result in a net savings of about $454,430 in the coming year.

He said rates will decrease 15.7 percent for individual coverage (from $1,014.98 to $856.10) and increase 3.8 percent for family coverage ($2,348.15 to $2,439.89) for 2019.

The new plan will offer a “Subscriber and Spouse Plan,” as well as a “Subscriber and Children Plan” that was not offered with NYSHIP.

“They offer more plans than what NYSHIP did, so there are a few extra categories,” Mr. Felt said. “These rates will be $1,712.20 and $1,455.37, respectively.”

The Prescription and Medicare Supplement Plan for employees, retirees and/or spouses ages 65 and over will decrease 2 percent, from $426.53 to $418.

Deputy Matthew LeBire said, while there will be “significant savings,” those savings could come down a bit because of a reimbursement benefit for a small number of services where the two plans were not comparable.

“So the net savings will likely be impacted by that,” said Mr. LeBire, who was joined by former trustee Timothy J. Ahlfeld in negotiating the new plan with employees.

“I thank Deputy Mayor LeBire, former trustee Ahlfeld, the collective bargaining units, their leadership and really the employees. This was a team effort at reviewing health care, looking at different options and understanding that there was an affordable option out there that was comparable to what we were currently using. I appreciate everyone’s cooperation on that. It’s very helpful to the taxpayers,” Mayor Timmy J. Currier said.

He said a spreadsheet was created for every benefit that was examined so they could be compared.

“The negotiations got to be where, if there was a difference, where they lost a benefit, the village tried to make up that benefit somehow to make sure the employees were getting comparable health care,” he said.

In October 2016, village officials had moved to new health insurance coverage for employees, their dependents and eligible retirees and their dependents. They had canceled their health coverage through Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield for active employees and their eligible dependents and for non-Medicare-eligible retirees and their eligible dependents. They moved into health insurance coverage provided by NYSHIP.

Now, they’re returning to the Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield program to save money. During a special meeting in October, trustees approved five resolutions, authorizing the coverage changes and approving memoranda of agreement with Civil Service Employees Association Local 1000, Massena Permanent Firefighters Local 2220, management personnel and office personnel.

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