Greenwood changing employee health insurance coverage

Dec. 16--Employees of the city of Greenwood can look forward to a new health insurance plan in the coming new year.

Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow said the desire for change came from a variety of complaints from city employees concerning what they perceived as flaws in the coverage provided by Municipal Health Benefit Fund. The city signed up for it last year.

The City Council voted to approve going forward with a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. Preparations are currently being made for the transition. Kinslow said the new plan will take effect Jan. 1.

The City Council met during a special meeting at 4:30 p.m Dec. 9 to decide whether to change health insurance plans for city employees. The idea had been discussed at the regular Greenwood City Council meeting Dec. 6.

Kinslow said prior to the special meeting that he convened with certain city employees in a separate meeting at 3 p.m., where he told employees about the two health insurance options the city was looking into, Blue Cross Blue Shield and QualChoice, and received feedback from them while comparing the options to the current plan provided by the Municipal Health Benefit Fund. The employees eventually chose the former.

"(I) talked to them a little bit about the cost, and what it was going to do," Kinslow said. "There was going to be an increase to the city. ... The example we were given or the choice we were given, really was looking at a $1,000 deductible compared to what we had in the past as a $500 deductible, but the coverage was going to be much better compared to what we have today."

"One instance, an employee was in the hospital," Greenwood Mayor Executive Assistant Tammy Briley said. "... On this Municipal Health Benefit Fund, after 30 days you're out. They only cover you for 30 days in the hospital, and only in the state of Arkansas. ... One in particular was in the hospital getting close to their 30 days, but a floor doctor ... this particular doctor was to check in on our employee and he wasn't in-network, so they didn't cover anything that this doctor was to check in on him."

Before considering other health insurance plans, Kinslow said the city followed up on claims such as this to make sure they were accurate.

"... Somebody here at city hall would call the health plan and say, 'Is this correct?'" Kinslow said. "... There was never anything different than what the employee was reporting."

Based on past experience the city of Greenwood has had with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kinslow said he believes it will provide better coverage than the Municipal Health Benefit Fund. Greenwood previously had Blue Cross Blue Shield before signing up for the Municipal Health Benefit Fund.

"Last year, we were faced with a, I want to say, 26 percent increase to the city," Kinslow said. "So we made a decision to not take that increase and go with a different company, which offered us a lesser price, but what we found out later was the coverage was not quite as good as it needed to be."

In terms of cost, the change to Blue Cross Blue Shield will mean the city will have to pay about 6.8 percent more than the overall cost for the current health insurance plan last year. Those who stand to benefit from the change include full-time city employees, elected officials and three of the six members of the Greenwood City Council. Kinslow said the remaining aldermen have their own health insurance plans.

In addition, Kinslow said while the city is moving away from the Municipal Health Benefit Fund, it will remain a participant in the organization that provides it, the Arkansas Municipal League.

"The Municipal League offers many, many good benefits," Kinslow said. "... There's other benefits to the Municipal League other than health care. Attorneys, legal aid, and things like that that we still enjoy very much by being a member of the Municipal League. (We) just found out that their benefit fund doesn't fit the needs of our employees."

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