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Great Falls trustees decline to join Bridge Health Alliance trust, citing unanswered questions
Summary
The Great Falls Public Schools insurance committee recommended against joining the new Bridge Health Alliance insurance trust; trustees voted to forego participation citing concerns about provider agreements, proprietary data access and uncertain savings.
The Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees voted March 9 to accept the insurance committee’s recommendation to forego participation in the Bridge Health Alliance insurance trust at this time.
Why it matters: The Alliance is a proposed statewide trust that needs commitments from many districts to qualify for legislative incentives. District staff and committee members said important details about provider agreements, prescription drug costs and access to consultant data remained unresolved.
During discussion Heather, a Bridge Health Alliance presenter, described the required commitments and timelines and asked whether Great Falls would join. Trustee Bronson, the board’s insurance committee representative, moved that the board accept the committee’s recommendation to decline participation. In arguing for caution, Bronson said the committee and its consultants had been careful and thorough and that “no one should say that the trust is an absolutely perfect proposal. No one should say that it is a horrible proposal” because many uncertainties remain.
Committee members and trustees flagged several concerns: whether local health providers have agreed to negotiated rates with the trust; how prescription drug costs would be handled; and the difficulty of obtaining nonproprietary data needed to evaluate comparative savings. Trustee Bronson told colleagues the district already operates a self-insured plan with established agreements and that switching to a new statewide trust would require more assurance that the change would be beneficial for the district’s employees.
The motion to accept the committee recommendation was seconded and approved by voice vote; the record shows the board accepted the recommendation to forego participation without a roll-call tally.
Next steps: The board’s insurance committee and consultants will continue to monitor Bridge Health Alliance’s rollout and report back if new, verifiable information about provider agreements and cost impacts becomes available.
