Bronxville union contract limits health insurance* provider choices to two

According to this report, the Bronxville school district union contract allows for only two possible health insurance* providers, with one of those being an excessively costly option according to the state Comptroller's office.  Why limit choices to only two?

The state Comptroller’s office has released its audit of the Bronxville school’s spending during the 2009-10 school year, finding only one place where money could have been saved: health care.
The audit looked at health insurance benefits from July 1, 2005, through July 31, 2010, and determined the district could have saved about $1 million in the past three years if it had pulled out of a statewide consortium and found a cheaper plan on its own.
The district, in its response, said pulling out of the consortium would have cost $1.2 million in unrecoverable fund balance payments over the past three years and would have violated union contracts, which specifically named the consortium as one of two insurance providers.
However, the district said it would continue to monitor the consortium’s fund balances and demand repayment where applicable, and seek a seat on the consortium’s board of directors to increase oversight. The district also said it would continue to monitor its health care options to make sure it chooses the most cost-effective of the appropriate coverage options.

http://reviewpress.lohudblogs.com/2011/02/23/state-audits-bronxville-schools-healthcare-costs-could-be-less/

* Corrected

If you have a problem with teachers unions . . .

If you have a problem with teachers unions, there's a good chance you might be a "right-wing", conservative millionaire.  At least, that is the view of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the federation of unions representing state teachers.

From a Journal News interview with state and regional union leaders:

Herb Pinder, Lohud Opinion Page Editor:

"It certainly seems that the pendulum is swinging against public employees unions and I just want to get your perspective.  Is this general angst or the residue of the overall state of the economy or are we seeing something much, much bigger at work? . . . I’ll start with you, Mr. Korn."

Carl Korn, chief press officer for NYSUT:

"I think one of the things we are seeing is a concerted and orchestrated effort by the right to vilify public employees and vilify unions for the problems that they didn’t create.  Speaking only for NYSUT we believe in collaboration.  We believe in partnership and being part of the solution.  But sometimes we take a step back and we look at these same headlines and we look at who’s behind them, and they’re most often right-wing think tanks and conservatives who are also special interest.  And the special interests are representing the banks and the Wall Street millionaires who got us into this mess in the first place."