Pulaski County is sticking with its current health insurance provider, after all. The county commissioners voted last week to renew their contract with Bennett and Shepherd as-is, for another full year.
For the past couple months, county officials had been exploring their options, with the hope of finding some cost savings. Four companies submitted proposals, and the commissioners had planned to hire a consultant to review them and make a recommendation.
But after hearing from one consultant last month who suggested more extensive work, Commissioner Jerry Locke said last week that he no longer thought a consultant was necessary. “[With] the research that has been done, I don’t think we need to spend that money,” he said.
Locke then went on to narrow down the options. “The way I see it, looking at all the numbers and stuff, two out of the four, basically, is a cost-plus-Medicare, and I think the county could possibly get beat up pretty hard on that type of insurance,” Locke explained. “So the R&R and the Apex, I’d have to throw them out, myself, right away.”
That left Bennett and Shepherd, along with Consolidated Union. The commissioners spent several minutes during last week’s meeting discussing the proposals with representatives from both companies. The commissioners noted that while Consolidated Union offered lower fixed costs, their bottom-line amount appeared to be about $30,000 higher.
