News

Wenham workers switching to state health insurance

By Steve Landwehr
STAFF WRITER
Published: October 6, 2008

WENHAM — The town's unionized employees are among the latest municipal workers who have voted to switch insurance horses in midstream. They have made a bid to join the Group Insurance Commission, which provides health insurance and other benefits for nearly 300,000 state employees.

The GIC was opened to city and town employees through the Municipal Partnership Act signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last summer. Communities could join as early as last fall, but many felt there wasn't enough time to explore the option before the October deadline to enroll.

Although only union employees could vote on the switch, Town Administrator Jeff Chelgren said nonunion employees were also consulted. Wenham has about 24 union employees and 30 nonunion.

The GIC offers employees a wider variety of choices for health-care providers, at considerable savings for both the employees and the town.

And according to data from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council , the rate of growth for health insurance costs for the state group has been significantly lower than the rate of growth experienced by towns like Wenham over the past several years.