New benefits don’t satisfy Clark County workers upset by insurance increases
Commissioners President
"We've been looking at that over a year," he said.
But the changes could still ease the financial burden for employees brought on by the new plan.
Under the plan, which goes into effect
The wellness program, which will require employees to undergo biometric testing, will help them save
Despite the commissioners' actions, most of the meeting's discussion about health care revolved around employees demanding to know why commissioners hadn't sought bids for different insurance plans this year.
"If you guys are going to decide to cut the portion that the county is going to pay for the insurance, you should at least give the employees options of searching for better prices for us and not making us take such a big hit," Marino said. "That is reasonable to me."
During the meeting, Coffman deferred to the county's insurance broker,
According to Halstead, who explained the situation both during the meeting and afterward, sticking with the same insurance provider allowed the county to save more money than it would have otherwise.
Halstead said that it isn't a good idea for self-funded insurance clients such as the county to bid out for various insurance carriers every year. The current carrier -- Humana in
Humana also offered the county
After the meeting, Coffman said that when the county has gone out to bid in the past, it hasn't helped them.
"...No one has been able to give us a good price and service as what our current insurance provider has," he said.
The commissioners also declined to let another insurance broker who came to the meeting,
"I'm sorry people," he said. "It's dead in the water. Don't raise your blood pressure or you might have to go to the clinic."
Marino left the meeting dejected. She hadn't known about the commissioners' decision to raise premiums in April until after they decided to.
"I feel like we're beating our heads against the wall," she said. "They didn't give us any other options. They didn't allow the employees input."
Marino may feel down, but
The new premium rates are meant to push employees to the high deductible plan. That means a higher maximum out of pocket costs for employees, but examples from
Lewis said he has met with employees currently on on the high deductible plan who say they've saved thousands of dollars, as well as workers on the other plans who were once angry about the changes, but who will now switch because they've found that it will save them money.
No parking in medians
At its Thursday meeting, the Clark County Commissioners also changed an ordinance that will make it illegal for drivers to park in medians on county roads.
Currently, drivers doing so are causing issues for residents and for emergency vehicles that need cleared medians to back out of their driveways or turn around their vehicles.
In other news
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