Marion seeks answers for insurance shortfall through memorandum of understanding
From left: Select Board members Toby Burr, John Hoagland and Randy Parker at the Tuesday, June 16 meeting. Photo by Grace Roche
From left: Select Board members Toby Burr, John Hoagland and Randy Parker at the Tuesday, June 16 meeting. Photo by Grace Roche
MARION — With Town Meeting’s approval of funding part of a health insurance coverage deficit for the Old Rochester Regional School District, the Select Board turned its attention to how it would oversee the payments.
The board approved a memorandum of understanding at its Tuesday, June 16 meeting that requires the Old Rochester School District to provide monthly updates on outstanding claims to be paid and share all claims made since December 2025.
Chair John Hoagland proposed the town use a similar memorandum one Mattapoisett recently approved, with a few changes.
“All I'm asking is two things — tell us where we stand today, and give us the documentation,” Hoagland said at the meeting.
While it has since changed insurance providers, the district previously participated in the Gateway Health Group, a self-funded insurance group in which members split the cost of claims.
A broker from the health group quoted the district a rate the district then budgeted for, but the cost of medical claims this school year were significantly higher than anticipated. Because of this, some employees have already experienced coverage interruptions and even received debt collection notices.
Marion will pay about $680,000 of the approximately $2 million shortfall.
Hoagland also recommended the School Committee provide a root cause analysis of how the shortfall originated by the end of September.
“I think the message from Town Meeting was pretty clear, ‘How did this happen, and what are we doing about it to make sure it doesn't happen again?’” he said. “What I'm trying to do is put in some guardrails for the taxpayers of Marion.”
