The third option was a late addition to the benefits proposal, brought to the table Monday after the county’s insurance broker, Kirk Rouse, had recommended at a work session last week that the county maintain its existing relationship with PHP. That package includes out-of-network coverage at a 20 percent greater cost to employees who seek health care at non-PHP providers.
The third option, first addressed by Commissioner Jack Stone during a meeting with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital CEO Joel Wernick, offers greater discounts for employees who opt for exclusive in-network coverage with Phoebe Health Partners.
“The only thing new about this third option and what Phoebe Health Partners had offered before is that now employees get a choice,” Stone said after Monday’s commission meeting. “Phoebe had offered the higher discounts if we chose their plan for all employees, but now they are allowing individual employees a choice.
“(PHP) will offer the higher discounts to every person who chooses that option, whether it’s one person or every employee we have. I’m proud that we can now offer our employees this choice.”
Rouse’s proposal last week had drawn criticism from individuals and groups both within and outside the county, the harshest criticism coming from Palmyra Medical Center officials who had asked the county to allow the for-profit hospital to share in-network status with Phoebe Health Partners.
“We’re dissatisfied and disappointed in the action the commission has taken,” Palmyra CEO Bud Wethington said Monday afternoon. “Palmyra had offered significant discounts to county employees, and our offer included real discounts. We offered discounts on fixed fees, while if you go back to 2002 with the contract that’s in place now, Phoebe has had rate increases of 6 to 10 percent a year.
“If I’m not mistaken, the 30 percent rate they promised will be less by the time it goes into affect because they approved a rate increase in either September or October.”
Wethington said he’s seen no proof from Rouse that shows taxpayers actually will be getting the best bargain with the plan approved by the commission.
“If, as everyone said, the goal was to save money, why weren’t all options considered?” he said. “How do we know we got the best deal, and will we ever really know?
“We believe, as do many others in the county, that the introduction of competition and choice will improve cost-effectiveness and quality of health care in the area. There is no choice in this plan.”
Groups calling themselves Citizens Against Government Waste and Americans for Prosperity had expressed concern about the insurance options given county employees, and County Commissioner Muarlean Edwards, who cast the lone dissenting vote against the three-option proposal Monday, remained skeptical about the proposed plan.
“I’m still cloudy about this issue, and the only way I feel that I could understand it is if representatives of both health care providers in the city make a presentation before this body,” she said. “I’m not at a point where I feel I could vote to pass this proposal as it’s been presented to us.”
Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz said his organization had problems with what he called a lack of transparency displayed by Rouse during the process of seeking a cost-effective plan for county employees.
“In that small a community, there’s no reason there couldn’t have been in-network coverage from both local hospitals,” Schatz said Monday evening. “But what’s even more important — and the reason our organization is interested in this issue — is that taxpayers have no way of knowing if they got the best deal. No one has offered proof that Mr. Rouse actually sought the best bargain for insurance coverage.”
Wernick said after the meeting the more restrictive PHP option offers employees an opportunity to cut their individual out-of-pocket costs and at the same time saves taxpayers money.
“Our goal all along has been to offer quality health care while reducing the cost to taxpayers,” he said. “The issue here is pretty simple; managed care rewards are being offered throughout the country in exchange for more restrictive coverage.
“We believe, depending on the number of employees who choose this option and the number of claims made, (exclusive coverage) could save anywhere from $600,000 to $900,000 in costs. The commission has given the county’s employees the option of getting in-network or out-of-network coverage, but people tend to seek health care where they know all their needs will be met.”
In his presentation to the commission Monday, Rouse said 97 percent of the county’s employees had sought in-network coverage through PHP last year.
“Under the options available through this plan, employees can choose one that allows them a choice in health care providers,” he said. “But they also can choose to get additional discounts — up from 23 percent to 30 percent and 40 percent, if costs surpass $150,000 — if they elect the third option.”
Before commissioners voted on Rouse’s recommendation, Dr. Chuck Lingle, who is a member of the Hospital Authority of Albany-Dougherty County board, asked County Attorney Spencer Lee if his voting on this matter constituted a conflict of interest.
“Your fiduciary responsibility is to the taxpayers and citizens of Dougherty County,” Lee said. “Therefore, there is no conflict of interest.”
In other action at the meeting, the commission held a public hearing on a rezoning request on land at 2014 Denson Road and voted unanimously to increase the salaries of County Administrator Richard Crowdis and County Police Chief Don Cheek by 2.8 percent.
