City Newspaper Archives - 3/2008
ECONOMICS: County, city, and city schools looking to cut health-insurance costs
Published by Tim Louis Macaluso on Mar 12, 2008
"Health insurance is the fastest growing portion of each of our budgets," said city schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard at a news conference Wednesday. City school district health-insurance costs went up $15 million last year to $56.5 million, Brizard said.
Health-insurance costs have increased by 150 percent for the city of Rochester during the last 10 years, reaching $44 million this year.
Though it is not clear what the study will examine and later recommend, County Executive Maggie Brooks said this is the first time three large governmental entities in New York have banded together to combat rising insurance costs. The school district, the city, and the county together provide health-insurance benefits to more than 20,000 current and retired employees.
"The goal here is not to shift costs back and forth between the county and employees," Brooks said. "The issue is how to save money across the board."
Employees share the costs of benefits in all three entities. The county has not increased employee contributions since 2004, but that could change if costs are not contained, Brooks said.
