Frequently Asked Questions

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Explore frequently asked questions about the BMCS Health Care Consortium’s services and programs.

For specific questions regarding your plan or benefits, please contact your plan administrator.

What is the purpose of the consortium?
The Bucks and Montgomery County Health Care Consortium is comprised of 12 school entities within Bucks and Montgomery counties. Coverage is provided to 5,500 employees and a total of 14,600 individuals. These school entities have joined together in a unique self-funded arrangement as a large group purchaser of medical insurance, prescription drugs and other employee benefits. The purpose of the arrangement is for consortium members to group together to get the best price possible for health care and employee benefits while also focusing on collectively improving employee health and wellness, potentially leading to even greater cost savings.

Our mission is to manage and control the rising health care costs while maintaining quality health care.

Our guiding principles are:

Attract new members and retain BMCS members

Develop new and innovative health plan designs

Achieve greater cost savings

Meet member needs

Engage members and develop innovative health and wellness programs

Target the specific needs of BMCS members

Institute aggressive wellness and disease management programs

Ensure programs are being managed effectively and efficiently

Monitor and address the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Minimize the adverse impacts of the ACA
How does the consortium arrangement work to provide health insurance to school employees?

School entities that decide to join the consortium may join with the health plans they currently offer. The school entity has until the next collective bargaining date to migrate to the four preferred medical plans .

In future years, recognizing that significant changes to the health care industry are on the horizon, the trustees will collectively determine if new and/or different medical plans should be offered. The goal will be for the Consortium to consistently offer three or more medical plan options for its participants.
What kind of savings can a school entity expect to receive from joining the consortium?

Through collaboration between Labor and Management, BMCS has achieved over $94.4 million in health care savings to date based on decisions made since BMCS’s inception. While savings for individual school entities vary, all members have received some savings over their previous health insurance programs. Savings are achieved from: self-insurance funding; collective purchase of stop-loss insurance; reduced retention (carrier expenses), streamlined collection of premiums and reconciliation of accounts, as well as our partnership with Aetna for medical administration and CVS Caremark through National CooperativeRx for prescription administration.

Continued future savings are expected to be achieved by Labor and Management working jointly together to educate employees and develop inventive health and wellness programs targeted at the specific needs of consortium members; developing new and innovative health plan designs that achieve greater cost savings while still meeting member needs; and maintaining control over health plan reserves enabling maximization of investment income.
How are premiums charged?
How does the governance structure work?

Each school entity appoints one Management representative or a School Board member to the consortium trustee board. For each school entity that participates in the Consortium there is a designated labor seat on the board as well.

Labor and management (union and employers) have equal voting strength at all trustee and committee meetings.
Who should I contact for more information or to indicate my interest in joining?

Frequently Asked Questions

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