City manager to negotiate municipality healthcare coverage
City Commissioners then voted for an option that would provide their employees with continued coverage over the summer during an emergency meeting where the city examined its legal choices as recent changes with healthcare contracts could have resulted in a coverage lapse.
As explained by City Solicitor
"The reason we joined with everyone else was because we wanted a better rating for our health insurance," said Salisbury. "We only have around 40 employees on health insurance. That's a relatively small number. So, to get a better rating, we joined together with everybody else. Now, we have thousands of employees rated together rather than just our 40."
Salisbury said the city entered into the contract a few years ago and locked into rates based on the rates of the time.
"While everyone else's health insurance has gone up (more significantly), ours has gone up maybe 10 to 15 percent a year because we locked in the rates," said Salisbury. "Our consortium,
Salisbury said contracts existed between each of the various entities. A dispute has arisen between Jefferson Health Plan and
"On Monday the 26 (of June), the board of directors for
According to the meeting, officials said Jefferson Health Plan was arguing that its contract with OPEC-HC had been terminated unlawfully because OPEC-HC had failed to give termination notice in a satisfactory way.
"It may or may not be true," said Salisbury. "It's going to likely be the subject of litigation for a long time."
Jefferson Health Plan reportedly offered to the city that if it wanted to maintain its previous insurance terms with Medical Mutual, the organization would offer to make such an arrangement. Therefore, the city would no longer be paying OPEC-HC and would deal with Jefferson Health Plan directly.
City Commissioner
According to the solicitor, because Jefferson Health Plan believed that OPEC-HC had terminated unlawfully, the administrator was going to refuse to pay run-out claims, claims for services that had been incurred but not yet billed. The new insurance carrier that OPEC-HC reportedly signed for the city would not start coverage until
"We were looking at a lapse in coverage for our employees and potential liability," said Salisbury. "If the employee had been paying their health insurance and suddenly their health insurance is not working, they're going to look to recover that from somebody and the city would have put itself up to liability by having the lapse in coverage."
The city will still have to pay around
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
------
Spreading the warmth
Hay bales, equipment lost in fire
Updated:
What it takes to survive
Load comments (0)
___
(c)2017 the Gallipolis Daily Tribune (Gallipolis, Ohio)
Visit the Gallipolis Daily Tribune (Gallipolis, Ohio) at www.mydailytribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
AAFP Issues Statement on Championing Healthy Kids Act
Woman Faked Death As Part Of Cross-Country Luxury Vehicle Fraud Scheme
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News