The Greenville City Council will soon be making a decision as to what company will serve as its employee health insurance provider for the fiscal years 2021-2024.
On Monday, council heard employee health insurance proposals from broker service providers SouthGroup Insurance Services/BXS Insurance, i-One Benefits Group and Nick Floyd & Associates — the city’s current provider.
SouthGroup Insurance representative Reginald Thompson noted the company was partnering with BXS Insurance — a subsidiary of Bancorp South — in its proposal to the City of Greenville.
Two fully funded plans were presented by SouthGroup — one with United Healthcare and the other with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Thompson delved into the “numbers” as it pertained to the city’s current provider and pointed out a 3% rate increase for major medical.
He said in the midst of him having discussions and submitting proposals over the past couple of years, one of the things he heard was “network.”
“Some of the employees and some of the doctors in the area were having problems with the network. So what we did was get a Blue Cross Blue Shield number and it was very hard to get,” Thompson said, highlighting the number was very competitive.
Mayor Errick Simmons asked what would be realized in savings compared to the city’s current provider and SouthGroup.
Thompson said based on 271 individuals, 10 employee spouses and 17 employee children, total cost savings would yield an amount of $366,000.
Vice Mayor James Wilson communicated to Thompson the interest of how much the city would save, since the city is not responsible for the overall figure, but 75% of it.
Actual total cost savings to the city would amount to approximately $274,738.
Thompson also noted the availability of a self-funded insurance plan option which includes a negotiated rate for employees who received healthcare services from Delta Health System.
Simmons recalled the city having Blue Cross Blue Shield as its employee health insurance provider once before and asked clerk Amelia Wicks about its services during that time.
“Everybody to my knowledge was extremely pleased with Blue Cross Blue Shield,” she said.
iOne Benefits representative Tim Johnson presented three plan options to the council and the cost savings versus cost renewal each one would yield.
The most significant difference between iOne Benefits’ options one and two are that in partnership with Delta Health System, option one provides a $500 deductible and $1,000 maximum out-of-pocket cost for services from physicians or healthcare facility within the network (MPCN) as does with the city’s current provider.
Option two is essentially the same as one with the exception of free healthcare services rendered at Delta Health System.
“Option one gives your employees free healthcare through Delta Health System. Delta Health System is obviously the hospital we discuss here in Greenville, but it has expanded its network through Senatobia, Clarksdale and otherwise,” Johnson said.
The third option is a fully insured plan and is with United Healthcare’s continuation of the plan provided by Nick Floyd & Associates.
The fully insured plan offers a savings of $121,390 over the city’s current provider.
Johnson pointed out employees would still have the ability to partner with Delta Health System’s mobile health plan which includes health screenings and other biometric exams.
Nick Floyd & Associates, the city’s current employee health insurance provider, proposed two main types of plans – an employee plan and an employer employee participation plan along with a third, all fully funded through United Healthcare.
Floyd highlighted that his proposed plan is a “national” plan which means about 15% of the city’s employees can visit other states such as Arkansas and Tennessee and visit the doctor.
“What that means is your plan pays the same amount. No other company does that. This particular one, there’s not out-of-network fee,” he said.
Councilwoman Lois Hawkins asked Floyd if he foresees potential increases in the insurance rates.
“I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve been in the business 37 years today and we can’t predict anything anymore,” he responded. “With COVID-19 going on, we don’t know.”
Summarily, two of the proposals by Floyd are an increase above the city’s current rate and the third option is listed as a decrease, saving the city an estimated $76,348 in cost.
