The Deductible

Following a reading of the policy material and the proposal to Tunica County authored by Nick Floyd & Associates, I have a solid understanding of their costs and specifically the deductible.

The discussion has centered on the deductible for the Humana PPO policy. There is a $5,000 deductible for that policy. The question causing so much disruption is who is paying for that deductible.

The Medical Bridge Advantage Program will lower the deductible for the employee to $500. The $4,500 difference in the deductible is covered by the Medical Bridge Advantage Program (MBAP). The County will pay one premium to Humana for Employee Benefit Services. The premium that is paid by the County for the MBAP, the $4500, is put into a reserve account that will be used to pay claims.

Each claim will be processed twice; once thru Humana and then again thru Electronic Billing Services (EBS). The employee will have Dental, Vision, Short Term Disability, Cancer and Accident Disability Coverage.  Additionally, each employee will have $50,000 in life insurance with $5,000 for his or her spouse and $2,000 for each child.  The employee would normally have to pay for these benefits themselves through their current cafeteria plan and would be charged according to their age. The benefits being offered by NFA have one set rate for all ages.

The Accident Disability and Cancer coverage would pay money directly to the employees and if the employee leaves their employment with Tunica County, they will have the option to keep these policies. The Accident Disability policy also covers the employee on or off the job and will pay in addition to any Workers’ Comp they may receive.

The matter to be considered is which plan, Cigna or Humana, provides the best coverage. I do not have the Cigna plan. It is my understanding that the County Administrator does have the Cigna proposal and has had this information since April. I can find no Insurance Agent of Record or I would have contacted the agent myself.

That being said, the material provided by Nick Floyd and Associates shows Humana having superior coverage at a lower or equal cost to the employee than does Cigna.

Now that the employee issues are settled, that leaves one question, “What is the cost to Tunica County? The Premium fees are not in my materials.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in Nick Floyd and Associates nor is my family covered through the group policy held by Tunica County for their employees.

What is still disturbing is all of the commotion about this issue and why wasn’t the Cigna proposal given to the Supervisors by the County Administrator.

Bob Tuchel
Tunicans for Transparency in Government