County considers changing insurance agents

March 28--NATCHEZ -- Adams County is considering proposals from insurance agents to service the county's approximately 240 full-time employees.

County supervisors are considering Stephens & Hobdy Insurance, Byrne Insurance Agency and current agent Randy Hazlip, whose contract with the county expires Saturday.

At a special meeting Tuesday morning, supervisors interviewed representatives of Stephens & Hobdy Insurance and Byrne Insurance Agency.

With the county's insurance plan year to begin Sunday, officials said they hope to help employees form a better understanding of their insurance and benefits by further education, in which the agent could take part.

Each agency faced similar questions, with the first being whether the county even needs an insurance agent in the first place or if county officials should just work directly with insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield.

"Tell me why Adams County needs an agent," said Joe Murray, Adams County administrator. "I've talked to several counties throughout the state, and some of our larger counties in the state don't have an agent."

Representing Stephens & Hobdy, Tate Hobdy said an agent would allow the supervisors to handle county business while leaving any issues regarding insurance to the agent.

"Y'all's job is to run the county and y'all need somebody to help out with y'all's health insurance and the overall benefits program as a whole," Hobdy said.

The county is currently relying heavily on its bookkeeping department -- mainly insurance clerk Lorenzo Dunbar -- to call Blue Cross Blue Shield to handle items such as claims, various officials said Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of Byrne Insurance, health insurance agent Fred Parker said the county could benefit from an agent simply by eliminating the need to spend hours on the phone with an insurance company.

"Yes, you can (operate without an agent), but, when I go in Lorenzo's office, he looks pretty busy to me," Parker said. "My question is: Do you want to throw that load and that responsibility on someone that doesn't have 25 years of health insurance experience."

When asked about what level of compensation Byrne would seek, Parker said only that the pay could be negotiated, but also that they should choose his agency if they want to "work with the best."

Murray said he believes employees could be better educated about their insurance and benefits plan, specifically felt their flexible spending plans, which allow employees to deduct a certain amount of pretax money from their paychecks to make medically related payments. Flexible spending plans can even apply to certain over-the-counter medications.

The supervisors said they would make a decision about an agent at Monday's regularly scheduled meeting.

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