Asbury Park is joining the state’s health benefits program in an effort to reduce employee insurance costs.
The city council at its Jan. 2 meeting approved a resolution authorizing participation in the plan. Preliminary estimates show the switch could save the city $1 million in the first year, city manager Terence Reidy said.
The city will still have Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield as its provider, but joining the hundreds of other municipalities on the state’s plan will lower the city’s costs, Reidy said.
The switch is possible now because all of the city’s union contracts — including police, fire, department of public works and office workers — expire this month, Reidy said. Almost all of the city’s employees belong to unions, excluding Reidy and a few others.
The city’s membership in the state plan will begin in April.
