County could explore health insurance options

Having seen its health insurance payment go up for the first time in several years, Putnam County could be on the lookout for savings options on this front.

When the county renewed its annual health insurance plan back in August, the Putnam County Commissioners said other options might be explored for the future of county employee health insurance.

One vendor is hoping the county will explore options outside of the major insurers.

Eric Dreyfus of Assured Partners told Commissioners Tom Helmer and David Berry on Monday that he saw that the county and its health insurance trust took a financial hit in the last year. He is hoping Assured can review some records and help the county explore other options.

“Aug. 1 will be here before you know it,” Dreyfus said. “There’s a lot that can be done if the county will consider looking under the hood at what’s been done in the past.”

He said that simply shopping between the nation’s two largest health insurance providers in Anthem and United Healthcare (Putnam is an Anthem customer) provides limited options.

Instead, Dreyfus hopes to work “in an environment where the county is paying for health insurance in a fair and reasonable manner, which I don’t think is the case with Anthem and United Healthcare.”

Dreyfus said that working with Assured, the vendor would guarantee $1 million in savings in the first year.

The county currently works with Brackney Insurance for its health coverage.

With Commissioner Rick Woodall not present on Monday, Berry and Helmer chose to table the matter of letting Assured explore things further.

The Sheriff’s Office is also seeking ways to cost the county less money on the health front, this time in the matter of caring for inmates.

Sheriff Scott Stockton and jail nurse Rich Warren presented some numbers to the Commissioners, showing that fees for sick calls and/or medications are higher at almost all surrounding county jails.

The proposal was to raise the cost for a sick call (seeing the nurse or a doctor via telehealth or in person) from $10 to $15, while also raising medication fees from $3 to $10.

Additionally, they requested that the book-in charge that covers the cost of hygiene products and consumables from $2 to $5.

Warren highlighted how products such as Tylenol can be purchased through an inmate’s commissary account. However, some have figured out that it is actually less expensive to visit the nurse and have him write a prescription for Tylenol, thus wasting resources and time.

Sheriff’s Office officials emphasized that if inmates are indigent, they will still be seen and cared for.

Changing the fees will require an ordinance, which must be advertised. However, the Commissioners gave the blessing to move forward with drafting the ordinance.

In other business, the Commissioners:

• Appointed Berry to the newly-formed Justice Re-enrollment Advisory Council (JRAC), at the request of Community Corrections Director Jamie France.

France explained that each county must form such a council by state law. The council will deal with matters such as community supervision and jail overcrowding.

The first JRAC meeting is set for Wednesday, March 2 at 1 p.m.

• Praised interim County Highway Superintendent Clint Maddox for the job his department has been doing.

“Highway – you’re doing a good job,” Helmer said.

“Looks like we’re going to get a chance to do a good job again this week,” Maddox responded, “as we get our weekly dose of rain, ice and snow.”

He went on to explain that during snow and ice events the last two weeks, they’ve been running two 12-hour shifts, a system that has worked well.

One challenging matter is that it has been rain changing to ice and snow, which makes pre-treating all but impossible.

However, they’ve continued to work and are finding ways to get around potential struggles such as a 500-ton order of salt not arriving on time.

Maddox added, however, that he was able to place another order from Evansville that was set to arrive Monday afternoon, as well as buying some surplus from Hendricks County.

Recent flooding also led to quite a few washouts, which Maddox said were being addressed Monday.

“After the rain we got a lot of washouts county wide, so I have everybody out working on washouts today,” Maddox said.

He added that the department has been trying to patch roads, but the ever-changing weather has added difficulty to this.

“Seems like every week we have snow to deal with, or flooding,” Maddox said. “It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.”

NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the county's current insurance vendor.