The Evangeline Parish Police Jury was forced to host a special meeting to discuss changing its health insurance provider after its renewal from its current provider increased by a whopping 58 percent.
The police jury learned of the increase back in February, and with the renewal set for each April the jury of nine was forced to immediately take action in regard to determining whether they would continue having the same coverage or switch plans.
During the special meeting, Mark Fontenot with HUB International, and Phil Lemoine, who assists the jury with risk management, provided several more affordable options than the jury’s renewal plan.
Along with presenting several insurance options, Fontenot also informed the jury they could select more than one insurance, which would give their employees the opportunity to choose an insurance that best suits their needs.
Ultimately the jury made the decision to go with United Health Care’s Flex Free plan, which will allow the insured’s first three primary visits to be free. After those visits, the insured will be required to pay the cost of visits until they reach their $3,000 deductible.
As a second option for its employees, the EPPJ selected a plan that will allow the insured to have co-pays for doctor visits throughout the year.
If an employee selects the plan with co-pays, their premium per month will be higher than the insurance plan without co-pays.
The premium per month for the option without a co-pay is $54.63 for the employee, $327.75 for an employee and spouse, $286.78 for an employee and child, and $559.91 for employee and family. This plan can be viewed in the chart provided with this story, and is labeled as Option 4.
The other plan selected by the EPPJ allows the insured to have co-pays throughout the years. If an employee chooses this plan, their monthly premium will be $81.07 for the employee, $380.65 for the employee and spouse, $335.72 for employee and child, and $635.29 for employee and family.
During the meeting, the EPPJ also heard from 911 and Office of Emergency Preparedness Director Liz Hill, who expressed her desire to see that the police jury begin choosing its insurance prior to the start of a fiscal new year.
According to Hill, that is how it was done in the past. However, Police Juror Ryan Ardoin said the jury changed it due to the fact that December was a busy month with working on the budget. Police Jury Secretary Treasurer Donald Bergeron also shared his understanding of why insurance enrollment is done in April now. He said, “It has been that way for quite a while now. I think it’s because we have gotten extensions in the past that have delayed our enrollment.”
Hill’s reasoning for requesting that the jury select its insurance sooner is because she said the increase in her office’s contribution to employee insurance affects her budget for the fiscal year.
Hill said, “I am fortunate that we have a contingency plan in our budget to be able to afford this extra money. I don’t know if every other entity has that, especially given the number of full time employees those agencies might have. That concerns me.”
The full jury seemed to be in support of beginning to work on having their insurance changed back to the calendar year where enrollment will take place in December.
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ELIZABETH WEST Managing Editor