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History
- Referred to insurance
- Referred to insurance
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Authorizes all municipalities to join a county self-funded or self-insured health plan
In Assembly Committee · Insurance · Sponsor Phil Steck
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S4466
Title of bill
An act authorizing municipalities to join a county self-funded or self-insured health plan
Purpose
Self-insurance or self-funding for health insurance is significantly less expensive than contracting out to private health insurers but requires a sufficient number of employees to be economically possible. Accordingly, at least 19 Counties currently self-insure. On the other hand, most municipalities, including school districts, do not have enough employees to self-insure. This bill allows them to do so by giving them the potential to join County self-insurance plans.
Summary of provisions
The bill allows any municipality located in whole or in part of a County to join a County self-insured health plan, provided that the County and the municipality both agree to allow the municipality do so.
Justification
Municipalities and the New York State Association of Counties have requested and support the bill. In addition, certain health insurers are preparing for the inevitability of self-insurance plans, by establishing departments that serve such plans. The role of the private insurer is reduced, since the private insurer no longer handles plan funds, nor does it profit from plan funds, but is still needed for claims processing and may charge fees for doing so.
Legislative history
Articles 44 and 47 of the Insurance Law currently allow municipalities to join together to share services, presumably including self-insurance. However, the process is extremely cumbersome, so in practice such cooperation is virtually non-existent, and is non-existent in the area of self-insurance. Furthermore, Article 47 requires community rating, whereas self-insurance plans can be experience rated, so that they are less costly.
Fiscal implications
Only positive. By bringing in more members to a County self-insured plan, spreading of risk is enhanced, and costs to the County and its employees are potentially reduced. In addition, municipal costs are reduced by paying less for health insurance, which is critical in a tax cap environment. Employee costs are likewise reduced. For example, the Albany County self-insured health plan costs employees approximately 50% less than NYSHIP.
Effective date
Immediate.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.