The Mason School District was one of multiple districts that was hit this year with an extra bill from its health care provider, SchoolCare.
Local towns and school districts who use the SchoolCare insurance pool saw large overage costs at the end of September, resulting in bills ranging from the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a letter sent to members on Sept. 23, SchoolCare notified its members it had determined that claims and pharmacy costs had “far exceeded” yearly projections, which had been managed by tapping reserves up to that point. But as of the end of June, SchoolCare reported those reserves were critically low and a deficit of $4.5 million.
The board of directors for SchoolCare directed the issuance of a $30 million assessment to be shared among the members. Schools and towns that use SchoolCare received that bill on Oct. 1.
In previous years, the organization has been able to return funds to towns, when reserves were healthy.
The Mason School District, which has only the Mason Elementary School and SAU staff, with middle and high school students tuitioning to Milford, was one of the districts impacted.
The district was charged an additional $42,000. The district has been with SchoolCare for the past six years, and in that time, had received back a total of $62,000.
SchoolCare provides health insurance for the towns of Greenfield, Jaffrey, Lyndeborough, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Temple and Wilton.
It also provides insurance for the school districts of Mascenic Regional School District, the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District, the Mason School District and the Wilton-Lyndebrough Cooperative School District.