The Brown County Commissioner’s Court held their regular meeting this morning as insurance companies battled for county business.
The county currently offers its employees a Section 125 “cafeteria” plan though AFLAC. Employees can, at their option, allocate a certain amount of money each month to be withheld pretax from their paycheck to apply towards medical costs, prescriptions, and similar products. With the current plan, employees who participate must pay for their medical expense out of pocket and turn in their receipts to be reimbursed out of the withheld moneys.
At today’s commissioners meeting, Stephen Rainbolt from National Family Care asked for his company to be able to offer their cafeteria plan to county employees as well as be the administrator of the plan for the county. Mr. Rainbolt stated that his company could offer a comparable plan as AFLAC, but with no administration costs to the county. His company could also offer a debit card to employees to use instead of having to pay out of pocket and then be reimbursed for these expenses. Mr. Rainbolt also stated that with the debit card, there would be no need for employees to keep receipt records as the debit card charges would keep track of these expenditures.
After Mr. Rainbolt made his lengthy presentation, Ronnie Middleton from the local AFLAC office stepped forward with David Young from the David K. Young company who is the administrative company for the county’s current cafeteria plan. Mr. Young explained that his company does not represent any single insurance company, but only works as administrator for various companies. They currently charge $3.25 per employee per month to the county for the employees using the plan.
Mr. Young presented documents from the Texas Attorney Generals office and the Texas Department of Insurance showing that an insurance company who works as administrator could be in violation of insurance laws if they are acting as administrator of a plan and not charging for it. It could be seen as a rebate or a kickback.
County Judge Ray West said, “I am reluctant to take any kind of a service, in administration of a cafeteria plan, based on the AG opinions and the Texas Department of Insurance. Both of these documents make me reluctant to accept a service where there is no fee involved.”
Mr. Young also stated that users of a cafeteria plan still have to keep track of their receipts and could be asked for them to verify purchases from time to time. Mr. Young also reviewed with the commissioners his debit card product that the county has not utilized in the past.
Mr. Young stated that he would change his fee structure to a flat rate of $175/ year for up to 30 employees to administer the cafeteria plan. There would be a per person charge if more than 30 employees opted to use the plan. These charges includes the use of a debit card.
The commissioners decided to stay with their current provider of AFLAC and administrator of David Young and to amend the current plan to the new terms when it is up for renewal on October 1st. This plan auto renews every year so no other action is required by the commissioners.
Also on today’s agenda was for a possible appointment for a public information officer for the county attorney, but due to the length of time the insurance matter took, it is being rescheduled to next week.
