When employers purchase health insurance, assembling a larger group generally means larger savings.

So one would think that a group combining every school district in the state would be even better.That is what Sen. David Argall would like to see someday. He is trying to form a dialogue with districts around the commonwealth aimed at an eventual statewide consortium.Argall sent out a survey to every school district in the state, and every health insurance provider, to get an idea about what they currently pay for health care, and their thoughts on a statewide consortium. More than 150 districts have responded ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.Ask local business managers, and they have varying opinions on the effectiveness of the project."That's something districts would like to see. The more people in a group, the better rates you get," said Brian Feick, Lehighton Area School District's business manager.For most schools in Carbon County, insurance costs are based only on their own employees.For the last three years, Lehighton and Jim Thorpe have been part of a larger consortium where risk is shared among about a dozen districts.Feick said that he participated in Argall's study. He said since Lehighton joined the group, the amount they spend on insurance each year has declined by about 25 percent - to $4.3 million from $5.75 million.While a part of that can be attributed to retirements, most of the savings is the result of the insurance consortium, according to Feick.By sharing the risk with other districts, they have managed to mitigate the cost when the district's insurance group has a anexpensive year.Sharing the risk has saved money for Jim Thorpe as well, according to business manager Lauren Kovac. She said the switch has helped them through some recent 'bad' years."We have been a very healthy school district. It came down to 'are we due for a bad claim year as (our population) gets older?' " she said, describing the district's thought process.While he supports it in theory, Feick believes that logistically, it will be difficult to set up a statewide group. That's because most districts' health plans are set through their contracts with their labor unions. Coordinating all those contracts, not to mention administering the plan, would be a monumental task.Some business managers are not willing to share that risk.Palmerton is in a consortium with Panther Valley, Weatherly and CCTI, but they do not pool their risk among the four schools.Matt Sawarynski, Palmerton's business administrator, has not participated in Argall's study.Sawarynski says his decision would depend on the set up of the system. He would not support one where Palmerton would have to potentially cover another school's costs in a bad year."As long as I'm business manager I wouldn't advocate for sharing the risk. I wouldn't advocate for supporting another school's health care costs," he said.