Leflore County employees will remain on the same insurance plan they’ve had for seven years, based on the recommendation of the county insurance clerk.
Two new plans have been proposed. On Monday, the Board of Supervisors listened to a presentation on one of them but delayed a vote, asking that Leflore County Insurance Clerk Martha Massey review them.
Massey told the board during a special meeting Wednesday that it was just too short notice to take up a new plan, which would go into effect Sept. 1.
“I am not comfortable changing plans at this late of a time for county employees,” Massey said.
The county is currently under an insurance plan provided by the Morgan White Group.
On Wednesday, representatives of Nick Floyd and Associates presented two options to the board. One plan proposed a savings of $44,107.20, and another would save the county $22,507.20, based on 180 employees.
The first plan included a prescription drug benefit, dental, vision, hearing and a program called eDoc. The eDoc service provides 24-hour telephone and online access to medical professionals.
“Even if it’s on weekends or after hours, they can pick up that phone and give them a call,” said Carla Sanders, a Floyd representative. “They can be treated without going to the emergency room.”
The insurance plan would keep Leflore County employees on major medical provider Blue Cross Blue Shield and add a Medical Bridge Advantage Program.
The second plan, which would cost more than the first option offered by Floyd, still would cost less than the current plan, Floyd said. It also would provide accident insurance covering on-the-job and off-the-job injuries to employees.
Supervisor Wayne Self said he wanted to discuss the matter outside the hearing of the insurance representatives and moved that the board go into executive session, which it did for about 10 minutes. Massey attended the session with the board.
Supervisor Robert Moore initially said he didn’t think an executive session was needed but did attend it. Supervisor Phil Wolfe excluded himself from the session and waited in the hallway.
“That should be discussed in public,” Wolfe said. “Bad things can happen when politicians make public decisions in the dark.”
No official decision was made during the executive session.
After that session, Moore moved that the board adopt the insurance plan from Nick Floyd and Associates. The board voted 2-2, with Preston Ratliff voting along with Moore and Supervisors Phil Wolfe and Robert Collins opposing. Self abstained.
“I want to make it clear that the motion I put on the table has nothing to do with (Massey’s) ability,” Moore said. ”I just know where the buck stops at. It stops up here. Every once and a while we have to make a decision that is different than what folks bring to us here.”
Self, who originally brought Nick Floyd before the board to present the new plan, said he was changing his mind solely on Massey’s recommendation. He said he was ready to switch plans but would lean on the opinion of his insurance clerk, even though he felt that “somewhere down the line we are going to regret this.”
“For me to sit here and go against you that would show that I have no respect, no confidence -- nothing in you,” Self said to Massey. “You are the reason I’m looking at it different.”
Self said Floyd and Associates came highly recommended and the plan seemed to be better for the county employees.
Massey said most companies send proposals much earlier so there is time to go over all of the benefits of the plan. She said it normally takes weeks to review the benefits and proposals made by a new company.
“I would love to sit down with Nick Floyd and Associates at a later date and time and go over everything they are presenting to the county,” she said.
After more discussion, Wolfe motioned to keep the current plan. Self and Collins voted with Wolfe, and Ratliff and Moore voted against the motion.
Collins said he would rely on the advice of the insurance clerk but was “appalled” by the fact that both insurance companies could offer discounts by cutting their commissions and hadn’t done so from the start.
“We are arguing who we are going to use, but maybe we should throw both of you out...” Collins said. “That’s the reason I don’t trust insurance companies.”
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
