County changes supplemental insurance

March 14--NATCHEZ -- Adams County Supervisors changed supplemental insurance providers during a special meeting Tuesday morning at which they selected Aetna as the county's supplemental dental insurance carrier.

The decision was unanimous, with only District 2 Supervisor David Carter absent, to switch providers.

In addition to the monthly savings for employees Aetna also will offer a guaranteed rate lock for two-years. The action required a special meeting because the open-enrollment period for the county's some 230 fulltime employees to opt-in to the supplemental dental coverage is Thursday and Friday.

The change in supplemental dental provider will not affect the overall health insurance provided to county employees through Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The county had been contracted with Always Care for the supplemental dental insurance but supervisors voted to switch to Aetna after the company offered lower rates than other bidders. Aetna also was the only bidder to offer a 2-year guarantee on the rates.

Insurance agent Fred Parker of Byrne Insurance Agency of Natchez told supervisors that all the companies providing bids were good companies and all offered similar plans.

Other supplemental dental insurance bids were from Always Care and Met Life. All three companies offered $50 individual deductibles and a $150 maximum family deductibles with a calendar year maximum of $2,000 from both Always Care and Aetna and a $2,400 calendar year maximum from Met Life.

Aetna's monthly rate came in the lowest with $31.45 per individual and $104.34 for family coverage with the 2-year guaranteed rate.

Always Care's bid was $40.84 per month for individual employees and $135.48 per family. Met Life's rates were $35.50 per month for individual employees and $117.80 per family.

In other matters at Tuesday's special meeting, Supervisors:

4Voted unanimously to declare a county tractor as surplus property and to enter a lease-purchase agreement on a new tractor.

4Voted to approve the docket. District 4 Supervisor James "Ricky" Gray only voted to approve one docket item, which is to allow Deputy Clerk Paige Dean to proceed with certified mailings for delinquent tax notifications.

He said he voted no on the other docket items because he had not yet had a chance to review the docket.

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