Commission discusses employee insurance at business meeting

The Hill County Commission discussed possible changes to employee health insurance plans at their weekly business meeting Thursday morning, including possibly eliminating one of their plans and how much of recent cost increases the county can cover versus employees.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said the commission also asked the Montana Association of Counties, which currently provides Hill County's health insurance, to adjust the cost of plans that cover employees and children, versus single employees or employees with a spouse or family.

Peterson said it occurred to the commission that people opting for covering themselves and children might not have a second source of household income, whereas those covering themselves and a spouse or family might, so it seemed appropriate to ask MACo give the latter plan a bit more support versus the others.

This suggestion received little argument from employees at the meeting, but the possible elimination of the county's RM1000 plan, which cost the county more than other plans, did prompt some discussion.

The commission has suggested the elimination of this plan as a way to more easily absorb this year's increase in insurance costs and save taxpayer money.

Peterson said if everyone from the RM1000 plan goes to the next highest plan in terms of coverage, the county will only need about $139,000 to cover the increased costs as opposed to $178,000 if they keep the RM1000.

Hill County Commissioner Sheri Williams said the county currently contributes $1,411 a month to employee plans, and if they want to absorb recent increases they will need to increase to $1,572.

She said the commission is considering raising their contribution to $1,515 instead, which would save the county almost $61,000 a year.

MACo Health Care Trust Representative Pam Walling, who attended the meeting by phone, said even if the county removes support for the plan it may still be wise to keep it as an option, if any employees want to pay for it without assistance from the county.

Walling and her fellow representative Joanne Romasko were asked about the county's emergency room visits.

Romasko said there are a few visits over the past year that MACo deemed avoidable visits and those are the only ones they find concerning.

When asked if having county-covered urgent care in the area would change that situation Romasko said urgent care is much less expensive than emergency care and having it available would potentially make a difference. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana's website says "urgent care" is care that needs immediate attention but does not need emergency room care, such as cuts that need stitches, migraines, back pain, sprains or strain, rashes and tolerable pain.

Hill County Commissioner Jake Strissel said that is something the county can definitely look into with Northern Montana Health Care or Bullhook Community Health Center.

Walling said some health centers can sometimes use federal funds to stay open on Saturdays, which might also help.

Walling was also asked why MACo is offering so many high-deductible plans, and she said that is just the direction that the industry and customers are going, and Hill County is one of the few places in the state that doesn't seem to be gravitating toward those plans.

County Road Department Employee Jim Litzinger said he thinks the county needs to shop around for insurance.

Peterson said the county is locked into MACo as a provider for the coming year, and if they want to change next year they need to start looking now.

He said he thought the county's insurance committee was supposed to be handling things like that but Litzinger said the committee received little direction and he's not even sure who is on it now.

Other employees said there is no insurance committee any more to begin with.

Litzinger also said the country is being secretive about the matter of insurance, and asked why information that was requested by another potential provider, HUB International, was not provided to them, despite it being necessary to give the county a quote.

Williams said nothing the commission has done in regards to this issue has been secretive and no information has been withheld.

She said she had no memory of such a request, but Litzinger and Hill County Clerk and Recorder Lexis Dixon said they both remember that request being made to the commission, specifically that they give HUB employee birthdays, which is necessary for creating a quote.

Dixon said a representative from HUB called the county multiple times, including Dixon herself who referred them to the commission.

Williams said birthdays are private information and it is not the commission's place to be releasing information like that, and that employees would have all needed to sign releases.

Walling said the county could have provided birthday's attached to numbers or initials, which doesn't violate any privacy and is absolutely necessary for insurance providers to create quotes.

She said MACo needs to be informed by March 1 if the county intends to seek another provider, but they are happy to help the county navigate that process and provide advice and assistance.

Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown said she understands the county's primary gauge for this issue is money, which is understandable, but they also have to consider customer service.

She said it's difficult to talk to practically anyone at a lot of these providers and MACo has always been helpful and they should consider that.

Litzinger said he agrees but still thinks the county should at least look.

During the meeting the commission also voted unanimously to hire Michigan-based firm Revize to design a new website for the county.

Strissel said this is a great opportunity for the county with the integration of GIS in their new website being a potentially huge help for voters looking to find out what districts they are part of for local elevations, find voting locations and generally make the county an easier place to vote in.

Peterson said the website Revize has offered to build them will be much more user-friendly, even for people like him who aren't especially up to date on current technology.

He said he thinks the website will be especially helpful for people looking to get various permits, as he sees a lot of confusion from people about where and how to get specific approvals for things.

Williams said the county's current provider is just not giving the county the support they need, with requests for changes to the current site taking extreme amounts of time to be responded to.

But with Revize, she said, the company has already given them guidance on how to quickly make changes themselves.

"I just think that we will have more support," she said.

Williams said the target launch date for the new website is July 1 of this year.

Peterson said the commission was considering paying for this website through their oil and gas fund, but Dixon said that money is meant for large purchases for things like needed equipment, not a relatively small purchase like this.

She and Brown suggested taking the money from their CARES Act funds or county's computer budget, which seem more appropriate.

The commission also approved the purchase of work cellphones for elected county officials.

Officials had previously been using their personal phones which they've said Hill County Attoreny Lacey Lincoln told them has become a legally problematic issue.