The Butler Area School District is entering into a new health insurance agreement that could help with controlling an expected budget deficit.
At a special meeting Tuesday evening, the Butler School Board terminated membership in the Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium while also approving membership in the Midwestern Insurance Combine effective July 1st.
BASD self-funded their insurance before 2018 at which time they joined the Allegheny group and according to Superintendent Dr. Brian White, the district was happy with the arrangement until about a year ago when the consortium decided to switch prescription drug carriers.
The consortium also notified the district in January that they anticipate a rate increase of at least 14%. An investigation of alternatives resulted in the discovery that Midwestern projected a rate increase of 7% for the same amount of coverage for the same number of employees.
Butler School employees will not notice any substantial difference with the change but they can engage in-network coverage for Highmark and UPMC providers. Butler will now be a member of the Midwestern Combine for the next three years and go year to year after that.
