Joint Finance co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said lawmakers on the committee will either come up with a plan to find $60 million for education funding in another area of the budget or they will direct the Department of Employee Trust Funds to find a similar amount of savings within the existing system.

Nygren said he looked through the contracts on Monday and found "no there, there" to explain how the projected savings were found.

Under the self-insurance model, the state would contract with insurers and third-party administrators to pay for public employees' medical bills directly rather than pay premiums to insurance companies.

The state would move from paying premiums to 17 HMOs across the state to contracting with six health insurance companies to administer the self-insurance program in four regions — north, south, east and west — statewide.

The contracts submitted on Monday are with Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation, Dean Health Plan, HealthPartners Administrators, Network Health Administrative Services, Security Administrative Services and Quartz.

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