Membership Benefits
April 11, 2005
Health insurance is an important issue for school districts because the rising cost of premiums has an impact on budgets, salaries and staffing levels. The problem facing many districts is that they spend all of their money on health insurance, leaving no money for salary increases.
As a member of the Greenbush Health Trust, your district is able to be a formidable player in the Kansas school health insurance field. According to Fred Meier, Business Manager of USD 466 Independence, “We are educators working together for the common good of having high-quality health care.”
Tony White, KNEA/UniServ Director, cites stability as an important reason to join the Greenbush Health Trust. “Greenbush Trust provides health care stability for teachers by pooling resources and creating a larger trust that ensures stronger discount and premium negotiations from highly recognizable carriers to ultimately better serves its members.”
School districts in the Greenbush Health Trust, since inception, have saved close to 30% in the cost of their retention expenses with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, BCBSKS. In relation to BCBSKS statewide averages, Greenbush Health Trust is 17% lowerin the premium cost of their plan and benefits. The Greenbush Health Trust averages less in retention costs from year to year versus direct health care coverage with the Company. this saves your school money, by allowing more of the health care dollars you spend to be applied to the payment of claims. In addition, the plans are unique and provide a greater degree of benefit diversity for your employees to elect from year to year.
The Greenbush Health Trust offers a triple option health plan, available only to Greenbush Health Trust members, with unique benefits and provider choices. The plans are underwritten by BCBSKS, giving all members the ability to access the large Preferred Provider Organization, using the Bluecard system. This includes 99% of all hospitals in Kansas, 98% of all physicians, and 93% of all other providers in the State. The Bluecard PPO System provides access to 85% of all providers in the United States, and includes 83 centers of health care excellence like the Mayo Clinic and M.D. Anderson.
