County Antes Up Insurance $’s
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court voted May 22 to pay approximately $176,000 to West Texas Rural Counties, the county’s insurer, to bring its medical insurance claims up to date as of May 17. The money is to be reimbursed by an assignment from reinsurer funds to be paid to WTRC in July.
According to County Treasurer Alan Dierschke and Judge Wilburn Bednar, continuing problems with WTRC’s inability to pay claims are due to the insurance pool being under-funded from its beginning and unable to consistently meet high claims from a few member counties, including Glasscock. As a result, county employees’ insurance is being refused by some area hospitals and clinics.
The county is considering several options for remedying its health insurance woes. One is to stay with the rural counties insurance pool, which, after a change in administration, would be reorganized and recapitalized. Higher deductibles for employees are likely, and the court discussed putting $100 per month per employee into a Medical Savings Account to help with those.
Another option is to look for insurance from independent carriers, but according to Bednar, the number of high-risk employees may be a problem, unless they could be insured separately by a state-sponsored pool.
The court tentatively agreed June 12 to remain part of the WTRC pool, but nevertheless asked Dierschke to get bids from other carriers by the next court meeting July 10.
In other matters, Dierschke reported on federal regulations regarding wage laws and record-keeping of time worked. He said among smaller area counties, only Glasscock and Coke do not keep detailed time sheets for employees.
He said to satisfy legalities, time sheets should be required of all county employees who are not elected officials, not just road crew personnel, as is the current practice. He said before each pay period, the time sheets should be signed by the employee and his/her supervisor, certifying to the accuracy of time worked. At the direction of the commissioners’ court, Dierschke subsequently designed a time sheet, which the court approved June 12 for immediate use.