1. Background

Staff and Structure: This program has undergone major recent changes in staffing and structure. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the program has been supervised and administered by the Berkshire County Commissioners and their staff. Recently, however, the Commissioners initiated and directed a process that will enable this program to be run solely by an independent board as of July 1, 2000. The Commissioners did this for the following reasons: (a) the need of the program’s participants to have some certainty with respect to the future of this service in light of the scheduled demise of County government as of July 1, 2000, (b) the importance and strength of collective purchasing arrangements for Berkshire County towns and cities, and (c) competition from outside groups that threatened to splinter the Berkshire group purchasing arrangement (at least one outside group was apparently misleading towns and cities regarding costs and benefits of health insurance programs).

At this early stage in the process, the Commissioners’ initiative appears to have been at least partially successful. On July 22, 1999 a detailed written agreement was entered among the County and some towns and cities and other public entities, which (a) sets forth the transition of control from the County to an entity that is independently and collectively run by the participating towns and cities and (b) specifically describes how the new group health insurance arrangement will be independently governed as of July 1, 2000. The new group purchasing group is called Berkshire County Insurance Group. It is expected to work in conjunction with the County Commissioners and their staff until June 30, 2000 to continue providing the various insurance benefits. After which time, it is planned that the Berkshire County Insurance Group will operate on its own under the control of the Berkshire County Insurance Group Board.

Presently, and until July 1, 2000, Doreen T. Coones, who serves under the direction of the County Commissioners in the Treasurer’s Office, works fulltime performing the bookkeeping and other clerical work for the Group Insurance Program. This program is also supported by the Commissioners’ staff. They provide other administrative support, including assisting Ms. Coones in administering the program, answering phones, drafting letters, sending and receiving mail, acting as liaison between the program and its clients, and recording minutes of meetings.

Service: This service provides health, dental, and life insurance to Berkshire towns and cities and other public entities. The provision of this service is offered based on a group purchasing arrangement through Berkshire Health Group.

2. Actual Service Usage

When this program was administered entirely by the County Commissioners sixteen towns and five other public entities participated in it. It is currently unclear how many towns, cities, and other public entities will participate in the new structure as of July 1, 2000. To date, eleven towns, the County, and four public entities have formally agreed to the new independent structure. The other towns and entities are continuing to evaluate whether to participate in the new structure.

In the 1997 survey conducted by the Berkshire County Task Force twenty towns or cities supported the services provided by this program. County records showed in 1997 that twenty-five of the towns and cities had participated in this program.

3. Service Costs and Funding

The costs of this program include compensation for the fulltime administrator, who is paid a salary of $21,812.05 out of the County budget, and in-kind services provided by the Commissioners’ staff. The Commissioners’ staff estimate that on average they spend approximately 150 hours per year working in relation to this program. It should be noted that the tasks of the fulltime administrator could probably be performed on a part-time basis. However, the administrator’s present full-time status was necessitated largely by the numerous changes confronting this program.

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