Union County Board of Supervisors health-care plan
rom Karon Finn
Creston
Why did the Union County Board of Supervisors sign a one-year contract with American Administrators instead of a three-year contract also offered with the same rates?
American Administrators with their representative Mr. Frank DeMarco receive an average administrative fee of $1,234.50 and broker fee of $354.64 for a total of $1,589.14 monthly for handling the health care paperwork for Union County. Another $20,686.19 is paid monthly to American Administrators for health, dental, life, vision and miscellaneous fees. American Administrators work with American National Insurance for the coverage, then Bardon Insurance Group is managing general underwriter for medical excess loss coverage over a designated amount of $30,000 an employee.
In a county health benefits study dated June 2009 by the National Center for the Study of Counties, in which Union County, Iowa, was a participant; it states: “Self-funded plans, in which financial responsibility for the cost of enrollee’s medical claims, have become more popular among larger employers in recent years. Self-funded plans give employers more control over their cash flow and exempt them from state insurance regulations. However this arrangement bears significantly more financial risk as compared with fully insured plans in which the employer contracts with a health plan that assumes financial responsibility for the costs of enrollee’s medical claims.” Large counties with more than 200 employees are considered to be able to withstand the risk. We have approximately 60 employees in Union County. We cannot afford in our county this significantly more financial risk.
The Union County Supervisors, along with Mr. DeMarco were in charge of setting health-care plans, premium and etc. In the editorial in the Creston News Advertiser on June 29, it states “the new proposal costs more than what county employees have paid in the past. Maybe the rates should have phased in over several years, instead of a larger increase this year.”
You think! Mr. DeMarco and the supervisors should have been more attentive and increased the rates slowly over the years. In Plan B Family that 34 of 57 employees enrolled in 2009 the premiums were $131.16 a month. The increase for 2010 was to $286.08 monthly. This is an increase of more than 100 percent in one year.
The Secondary Roads Department is under union contract until 2011 so the following information does not include that department.
Twenty-two of the courthouse staff out of 28 employees have now selected Plan D of the Union County health-care plan where they have a higher deductible, but their premium is zero. Eight out of 11 employees on the sheriff’s staff have also selected Plan D.
In the Union County independent auditor’s report dated June 30, 2009, there is a questionable expenditure on the prescription drug reimbursement of $768 stating “the line to be drawn between a proper and improper purpose is very thin. Also, in the audit, the payment of an elected employee who received monthly reimbursements of $500 a month instead of taking the county health insurance states the reimbursements “should be run through the county’s payroll process with the appropriate taxes withheld.” The county is now doing that but for months it didn’t.
Some of the supervisors have stated there is a federal law that prevented the insurance company from paying for a procedure. Mr. DeMarco should have known about this law and should have protected the county. Therefore, the expense should be paid out of his errors and omission insurance policy.
The company Unum was selected to provide county employees , including the supervisors, with long-term care insurance for the cost of approximately $12.74 per month per individual. Yes, it’s only $12.74 a month or $152.88 a year. Less than $200 a year for long-term care insurance for the county employee.
Union County Board of Supervisors are responsible for the county health insurance policy so I wonder why they went with a one-year contract with American Administrators instead of a three-year contract? Could they be worried that the taxpayers are waking up?
