CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More questions and concerns were discussed Thursday afternoon regarding Kanawha County’s potential insurance switch for all employees.
Kanawha County Senior Staff, Assured Partners and a paid consultant hosted a second working session with employees regarding the potential switchover to state-operated Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) from the self-insured Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan.
“I thought there were a lot great questions, insightful questions,” Paul White, an Employee Benefits Consultant told 580-WCHS.
“The county is doing everything they can to educate their people around this decision as much as they can.”
White joined Kathryn Simmons, the Vice President of Operations at insurance broker Assured Partners in the front of the Kanawha County Courthouse room to field questions from the dozens of county employees and their families in attendance.
Two topics of conversation that took a lot of time to answer during the meeting were if specific prescription drugs were covered under PEIA plans and setting up reimbursement accounts for deductibles because the county would be switching mid-year.
Simmons said the county wants to soften the blow to employees with deductibles through a legal and tax-free process.
“Their deductible restarted January 1 so if anybody has satisfied their deductible between January and the end of June, the county has asked if we could find a program to where those deductibles could be reimbursed because they would have a new deductible starting in July.”
With a new plan beginning on July 1 of this year, no matter the route the county takes, employees also asked about the potential disruption of service.
“One really strong thing about PEIA is that all West Virginia physicians and facilities are covered as part of the network,” Simmons told the crowd. “The continuation of care within the state should not be a concern for the associates.”
In the first meeting last week, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper stated that sustaining its current system is no longer an option, as it is expected to increase approximately $700,000 annually, around 15-percent.
According to Kanawha County, the current healthcare costs for the fiscal year 2019-2020 sits at $9,030,000, a $2,876,743 increase over the last five years. The General Revenue Fund sits at $44,965,113 which is only an increase of $662,938 increase in five years.
There are seven possible plans from PEIA that have been shared during the first two meetings.
Simmons said there is a possibility that Thursday’s meeting could be the final of its kind. Carper previously said he would like to bring the proposal to a vote sometime before the commission votes on its budget for the next fiscal year.
“If the county is satisfied with the feedback with this meeting and feels they can move forward with making a decision, there may not be any additional meetings like this, they’ll move over to specific employee education meetings.”
According to Simmons, 42 counties in the state and over 700 non-state agencies are currently on PEIA health insurance. the county could save around $3 million a year.
Story by Jake Flatley