Major Cost Increase for HMO Covering School Workers

The cost of the HMO covering most Santa Barbara school district employees is skyrocketing 31 percent, announced Brian Tanguay, coordinator of classified personnel, at Tuesday’s board meeting. He said the bump follows national trends and that the number of districts in its provider’s pool of HMO subscribers is shrinking. The elephant in the room, he said, was the “Sansum-Cottage monopoly.” Union president for the non-teacher employees, Paul Rooney, urged the district to take on a greater share of the increased costs. The Anthem Blue Cross plan covers 736 employees and over 2,000 people including dependents.