County Court Adopts New Insurance Plan
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court voted Aug. 14 to change its employee health insurance to Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage provided through the Texas Association of Counties, and decided to use the agency of Rose Pelzel and Shelby Hall.
The court had wrestled with insurance problems for several months before finally determining that they could not legally separate retirees from active employees for insurance purposes. This meant they were limited to the TAC coverage, since it was the only plan which would accept the retirees, some of whom have serious illnesses and high claims histories.
Some of the changes from the previous insurance coverage are: the county-paid monthly premium per employee has risen from $224 to $510; each person’s deductible has gone from $250 to $1,000; the co-pay has gone from 90/10 to 80/20; the stop/loss amount was previously $1,000 and is now $3,000; disability insurance is no longer included; and the PPO network (Blue Choice) is larger, and includes hospitals in Midland and Big Spring.
Another change will become effective Oct. 1, when the county will no longer provide full major medical coverage for retirees who are 65 years old, but will instead provide them with a Medicare supplement.
The current “cafeteria plan” is still available to employees through pre-tax payroll deductions, allowing independent purchase of supplemental policies for cancer, heart, disability, etc. Because of high TAC rates for family coverage, employees may also choose to insure their families independently.
Glasscock County ‘s annual insurance costs will now total $245,000 for employee health coverage, plus an additional $75,000 for liability coverage.