Brockport village saves on insurance costs

Village of Brockport officials say they have found ways to cut costs while still providing quality health care to non-union employees and retirees. With the February 1 change from the village's prior health insurance carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, to Preferred Care Medical and Guardian Dental, annual cost savings range from $1,299 for single coverage insurance to $2,944 for two person coverage and $3,415 for family coverage under the new Preferred Care plan.

"We wanted the taxpayers to know that we're sensitive to increasing costs in health care, worker's compensation and other insurance coverages and we are constantly looking for ways to meet the needs of the employees by delivering quality service and care while still saving taxpayer dollars," Mayor Josephine Matela said.

The village had to take a hard look at ways to cut costs while continuing to effectively deliver health care insurance to its employees and Matela said the exploration of the different options over the past several months yielded positive results.

Costs for the prior BCBS coverage for a single person, two person plans and family plans were $5,027; $11,161; and $12,620 respectively. Under the proposed change to Preferred Care, the annual costs paid by the village for the non-union employees and retirees will be: $3,728 for single; $8,207 for two person coverage; and $9,205 for a family plan. The major change faced by individuals in the switching of insurance carriers came in the form of prescription benefit coverages. While in the past employees paid either $5 or $10 for their co-pays, under the Preferred Care plan the co-pays range from $10 to $40 for prescription drug coverage.

Informational meetings were held for those individuals who would be affected by the changes. "The Preferred Care presentations were professional and informative and allowed the opportunity for questions to be asked during the presentations," Matela said. "Having the opportunity to have questions answered immediately during the meetings helped people become part of the solution to the insurance coverage questions and helped put them at ease with the proposed change."

Matela said the village is committed to taking care of employees and retirees to the best of its ability and the first step was to offer those individual plans that were comparable to what they presently had. "We were able to do that at a cost that is less to the village."

In a letter sent to village employees it was noted that village officials are also working with the CSEA and the Stetson Club unions through collective bargaining negotiations on health and dental coverage issues.