Tri-County authority turns insurance rate increase into savings
?MILLSBORO — The Tri-County Joint Municipal Authority has taken a potential cost increase and turned it into a savings.
The authority recently learned that the Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical insurance for its 13 employees would be going up by 45 percent.
“It would have cost us $54,000 extra a year,” said authority President Lawrence “Jake” McCusker.
“To have that kind of increase, I can’t even begin to imagine what that would have meant to our customers. We would have had to raise the rates.”
The authority serves approximately 3,300 customers primarily in Washington County stretching from East Bethlehem Township west through Centerville Borough an on toward Route 519.
It also serves SCI-Fayette and customers in La Belle in Fayette County.
“We decided to go with Health America, which will actually save us money,” McCusker said.
The authority currently pays approximately $1,000 a month for Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage for the employees, paying 100 percent of the coverage. That premium will drop to about $8,000 a month under the Health America contract.
“It’s the board’s responsibility to see how we can save our customers money and still produce quality water,” McCusker said.