The district would move to the South Jersey Health Insurance Fund, a collaborative purchasing group of other districts in the area.
The Evesham Township School District has what Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. describes as a “unique opportunity” to move its medical insurance plan away from the state health benefits plan and into the South Jersey Health Insurance Fund — a collaborative purchasing group of other districts in the area.
If the move goes through, Scavelli said the district would still see an 11 percent increase in health benefits costs starting Jan. 1, but the increase would be less than the 13 percent increase the district would see by remaining in state health benefits plan.
Scavelli said the district would save $180,000 by making the switch.
With that in mind, the ETSD Board of Education approved a nonbinding resolution at this week’s meeting allowing the district to apply for the switch.
According to Scavelli, the district has been a part of the state health benefits plan since 2010 when it switched from the South Jersey School Affiliation purchasing group.
Although the district had been a part of that group for many years, at the time Scavelli said the district was looking at a 33 percent increase in costs that would have added about $2 million to the district’s budget at a time when Gov. Christie had just cut several million dollars from the district’s state aid funding.
Since then, Scavelli said the district has continually looked for savings by having a benefits broker shop around the district’s medical insurance plan coverage, but as the district has a high claims experience, Scavelli said the district had been unsuccessful in finding a cheaper plan that offers the same benefits through any other major insurance carriers or any other groups that purchase insurance collaboratively.
With the potential move to the South Jersey Health Insurance Fund, Scavelli said the district would not only see less of an increase in costs, but the level of coverage would duplicate the level of coverage the district has now or even potentially provide better coverage.
According to Scavelli, if the move goes through, the district would no longer be insured through Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, and employees would instead chose Aetna or AmeriHealth.
“Same plan, different carrier,” Scavelli said.
As district employees also contribute to their health benefits plans, Scavelli said he believed the move would put the district and its employees in a better position moving into the future.
Scavelli said the district reviewed a 10-year span of South Jersey School Health Insurance Fund rate increases, and the fund has traditionally outperformed the state benefits plan.
“There have been rate increases, but their rate increases are generally much lower than the state health benefit increases have been,” Scavelli said.
Scavelli also stressed some urgency for the board to approve the resolution allowing the district to apply for this newest switch.
Scavelli said the South Jersey School Health Insurance Fund can only accept a limited number of new members per year, and the district had learned of several other districts where the BOE had already approved resolutions of their own.
As the board’s resolution was nonbinding, Scavelli said the district would continue to perform its due diligence in examining the switch with its unions during the coming weeks, and if the district were to find something objectionable, it could simply remain with the state health benefits plan.
