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In an article titled, “The Health Benefits Equation: A Joint Labor-Management Solution,” the co-chairs of CECHCR point out (Ingram & Young, 2006, pp. 13-19):

It’s no secret that exploding health care costs and spending are wreaking havoc in every sector of our economy. Six straight years of double-digit premium increases have undermined wages and pension, strained public budgets, eroded timely access to beneficial medical service, caused layoffs, and hurt the overall economy. The public school system in California, overburdened and financially precarious, is no exception.

Both rapidly escalating health care costs and deficient quality of care are key concerns for California’s public school employers and their unions. To ensure affordable comprehensive and high-quality health benefits to employees and their families, creative solutions are being sought, such as the California Education Coalition for Health Care Reform. The goal of this joint labor-management committee is to address the root causes of the cost and quality problems without shifting those expenses to patients.

The goals of CECHCR are to:
  • Transmit information to local school districts regarding health care costs, quality, equity, coverage issues, and practices that effectively address these issues;
  • Train Health Benefits/Insurance Committee (HBC) members to evaluate options, gain transparency in their agreements, and negotiate model contracts;
  • Increase the engagement of education organizations in the health care reform debate.
To achieve its goals, CECHCR provides three training modules for HBC members. Through a network of seven California regions, HBC representatives from five to six districts convene to participate in a three-hour training session of their choice. They select one of the following modules.

Module I
Joint Labor-Management Health Benefit/Insurance Committee Training


Module I identifies key health cost drivers and includes requests for proposals and model consultant/broker contracts.

The objectives of Module I are to:
  1. Know and understand options available for committee design and structure.
  2. Understand roles and responsibilities for effective health benefit committees.
  3. Know and understand the fiduciary and ethical responsibilities of those committees.
  4. Know and understand how to work effectively with and receive the highest quality services from consultants and brokers.
  5. Learn the essential elements and components of model contracts and request for proposals.
Program
  1. Discussion of cost and quality issues driving up health costs, and how your committee makes decisions about them.
  2. Discussion of ways to take control of those decisions, and become more proactive with brokers and consultants.
  3. Each committee will use a Health Benefits Committee Assessment to determine member satisfaction with current procedures and/or discuss ways to increase the committee’s effectiveness. Committee members will share their findings with the entire group.
  4. Review and discuss fiduciary and ethical responsibilities and what those mean for committee members.
  5. Examine and discuss key documents 
Module II
Health Benefit Committees, Making Informed Choices


Module II shows how to access web-based tools to analyze provider quality, use an interview guide to choose a health plan, develop a hospital performance score card, and obtain health care data that typically isn’t transparent. (This module requires internet access.)

The objectives of Module II are to:

  1. Understand the basic and essential terms used in the health benefit industry.
  2. Learn who the major health care policy players are, and how to access updated policy information.
  3. Develop web-based skills to analyze local provider quality.
  4. Find out how to choose a health plan
  5. Discover how to get the data you need from your health plan
Program
  1. Review and discuss the trends in the health industry and how they impact health care costs.
  2. Understand the terms used by the insurance industry and be better prepared for questions at the next renewal of your plan.
  3. Access research-based data on health care policies and practices.
  4. Learn to use web-based tools for evaluating the performance of hospitals.
  5. Obtain forms for interviewing providers and gaining transparency
Module III
Health Benefit Committees, Current Trends

Module III focuses on the difference between the social and business models of insurance, the delivery models of health insurance in schools, and the importance of building large risk pools. It provides data about the California Health Care Coalition, health savings accounts, the ramifications of opting out, the Healthy Families Program, and preparing for health retiree cost disclosure (GASB 43 & 45).
The objectives of Module III are to:
  1. Understand the difference between the social model and business model of insurance.
  2. Be aware of four ways health insurance in schools is purchased
  3. Acquire information about hot topics such as the California Health Care Coalition, health savings accounts, opting out, the Healthy Families Program, and GASB 43 & 45
Program
  1. Learn the difference in delivery models and the importance of building large risk pools.
  2. Review and discuss each component of an HSA and the “ins and outs” of a high deductible health plan.
  3. Understand the pros and cons of opting-out of health coverage (and other cash-out schemes), and the long-term impact of implementing these types of plans.
  4. Discuss how the Healthy Families Program can provide low cost benefits to children of many school employees.