In the process of reviewing bids for new health-insurance coverage for county employees, the Phelps County Commission found itself in a quandary — another plan, available but not formally submitted in a bid — could save the county approximately $50,000 a year.
According to Commissioner Larry Stratman, District 1, a group plan recently available in Phelps County by Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Blue Preferred Point of Service Plan, is available for $396 a month per employee, or $69 less than the lowest-cost bid that was submitted Nov. 12. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the county’s present insurer, also submitted a bid detailing renewal rates on the county’s present plan, but not the new Blue Preferred plan.
While comparing the available options, co-pays and co-insurance options offered by competing companies, Stratman, who also is in the insurance business, said he first discovered the plan through the course of his research and contacts within the insurance industry.
Presiding Commissioner Randy Verkamp said the county may have two options — reject all seven health-care bids or award the Blue Cross Blue Shield bid.
“There’s an ethical dilemma on both sides,” Stratman said, explaining the ramifications of either rejecting all the bids submitted by companies in good faith or injudiciously expending taxpayer money.
The unbidden POS plan closely mirrors an HMO, Stratman explained, with a 70/30-percent split of medical expenses. County employees would pay $25 for an in-network doctor visit and 30 percent of all other costs, up to a maximum $1,000 deductible.
As the county pays 90 percent of the total premium for its employees, the actual savings realized by the county would be $48,671 in the first year.
Also, as last year’s less-than-stellar loss-ratio comprised 101 percent of all the premiums paid to Blue Cross, the actual premiums specified in the bids would be subject to changes after the insurance companies reviewed employee applications, Stratman said.
“We knew we were going to need good fortune to get through the budget year, but the last place we thought we’d find it would be in health insurance,” Verkamp said.
County Clerk Carol Bennett told the commissioners she would check with the state auditor to determine a legal course of action for the submitted bids.
The Commission agreed it would table any action on bid awards until next week.
