Commissioners work to meet county employees insurance needs…
“There is no way to pick one plan that works best for all 95 employees,” explained Freestone County Auditor, Donna Williams. “Changing our health plan to a private exchange allows the employee to choose which plan works best for their own personal needs, and those of their family.”
Freestone County Commissioners voted to change the employee health plan to a private exchange plan through Texas Association of Counties (TAC) with Blue Cross Blue Shield at a meeting held Thursday, July 28, 2016.
Currently, every employee opting to have county insurance is on the same exact health plan; of which the county pays $706.82 per employee. If commissioners had voted to keep that same plan, the cost would have risen to $735.08 per employee, a total increase of $2,684.70 per year.
Changing to the private exchange allows each employee to choose their own plan. The county will contribute a set amount, the same for each employee. The employee is responsible to pay the difference should they choose a plan costing more than that set amount. The dollar number has yet to be determined, but should be close to what the county currently pays.
Williams noted that the private exchange does offer a plan that is comparable to the current health plan, but there are ten different plans to choose from.
This change will take effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Also at this meeting, Commissioners voted to select a new Salary Grievance Committee using six elected officials, and three persons who have served on the Grand Jury within the past year. To choose the public members, each commissioner chose names from a hat. Six names were drawn; and the first three to respond in agreement, will be placed on that committee. Those names are: Wendon Morrison, Tony Brackens, Sr., Donald Mullen, Jimmy Clark, Robert McAdams, and Kay Carr.
The next meeting of Commissioners’ Court will be Wednesday, August 3, 2016 at 9:00 a.m.
Nicole Schaefer reporting
