ALBANY - A bill to help municipalities save money on insurance has been introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Joe Griffo (R-Rome).

The bill would allow municipalities, such as towns, villages, and school districts, to join county self-insured health plans as a way to cut costs.

This legislation would bring more members into a county’s self-insured plan and will spread the risk across a wider number of employees, reducing costs accordingly, said a news release from Griffo’s office.

The sponsor in the Assembly is Phil Steck of the Albany area.

Griffo said the bill permits “taking advantage of economies of scale,” which is in line with his policy of working to reduce regulatory barriers.

As some municipalities are too small to self-insure, they will be able to take advantage of county self-insurance plans that are significantly less expensive than community rated plans, the news release said. Others that have already self-insured can realize greater efficiencies by joining with the county plan, and still others that are large enough to self-insure can avoid the initial costs of doing so by joining existing county plans.

Griffo represents the 47th Senate District, which includes the St. Lawrence County towns of Massena, Brasher, Norfolk, Stockholm, Potsdam, Pierrepont, Russell, Clifton, Fine and Pitcairn, along with Lewis and Oneida counties.