Commissioners Choose AFLAC’s PEIA Plan C for County Employees

During the April 1^st Pocahontas County Commission meeting, Beth Richardson from the health care provider AFLAC made a presentation to the commissioners about their choices for county employees’ and elected officials’ PEIA health coverage in the upcoming fiscal year. She said April is open enrollment so the commissioners need to choose between PEIA plans A or C, (A check of the PEIA site on the web actually lists the open enrollment period to be from April 2^nd until May 15^th.)

The primary difference between Plans A and C, according to Richardson, is that Plan A has lower co-pays, although those co-pays did increase significantly over the current fiscal year’s co-pays. Plan C has higher deductibles but lower co-pays.

County Clerk Missy Bennett explained that while several insurance companies offer both PEIA plans, AFLAC was the only one that will send representatives to meet with employees and explain their options without charging to do so.

Richardson also explained the differences between Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA.)

HSAs allow employees to have pre-taxed income to be directly deducted from their paychecks and placed into their HSA, which they own, but can only spend on health care related expenses.

HRAs, on the other hand, are owned by the county, which funds them directly into an account which can be used by the employee to pay for their medical expenses using a specialized debit card issued to them. The card can only be used to pay for medical care and prescription expenses. Any money not spent from the county’s HRA accounts are returned to the county at the end of the year.

The commissioners voted to go with AFLAC’s PEIA Plan C, with the HRA accounts.

Also at the meeting, the commissioners approved making payment # 8 in the amount of $8,217.96 from the PMH HVAC Replacement Project. Donna Ward from Region 4 explained this will be used to pay for Architecture fees, and project expense invoices.

At the request of Amanda Smarr of Region 4, the commissioners approved the Notice of Intent to Bid for the construction phase of the county’s ARC Broadband Project. Smarr explained that once the state approves that intent to bid, the actual construction bids can be advertised.

The commissioners gave their approval for Emergency Management Director Michael O’Brien to hire Charles Evans as a Part-Time Emergency Management Specialist, effective April 2^nd at $15.00 per hour with no benefits. O’Brien said Evans will be a great liaison with the mountain biking community. Evans has been in charge of developing mountain bike trails in the area, working for the CVB. O’Brien said this hiring will fill a vacant position.

They also approved an in-house budget revision for the Extension Office.

Since the County Prosecutor was in court and was unable to bring the contracts, she has been preparing for the lease of portions of the county’s East Fork property to several local farmers for haymaking, the commissioners will have those lease contracts sent directly to the different groups, and if they agree to them, sign them and return them, the commissioners can officially approve them at their next meeting.