Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 13, 2010,
Item 10
Number 10, consider and take appropriate action on proposed dental insurance plans for fiscal year 2011. For the record, we'll call up 21 next. Morning.
>> morning, judge. Morning, commissioners.
>> good morning.
>> cindy pureeington, human resources. We're here today to present a recommendation on a new dental plan for the upcoming fy '11 plan year. Staff went out to bid on dental. We got in six proposals. Evaluated and negotiated and this is the recommendation that we're bringing to the court for approval. The carrier that we would like to recommend approval is assurance. They have proposed a dhmo and two ppo dental plans. There are improvements on what they're offering from what we have right now, i think the employees will find the improvements to their liking. The dhmo network on this plan has more dentists, which is something that we've desperately needed over the last few years. And they have a little bit more online capabilities where you can go online and print an id card if you need an id card on this dental plan. You can also, the dhmo has a feature we haven't seen before on the dhmo where you can go out of network for specialty care if you need to on the dhmo. If you stay within their network, but you can go to a specialist that's not your general dentist, and it's still covered under the plan. If you go totally out of network, they even have some coverage for that. It is a reduced coverage. So you have a little bit more options on the dhmo than we've had in the past. We also proposed -- the mack plan, which is a 1,500-dollar annual maximum, which is what we have now. That plan is very similar to what we have in the way that it's set up. It does, however, have something called preventive max waiver where your preventive services each year do not count towards that 1,500-dollar maximum, so you actually have that $1,500 to spend on treatment instead of all your annual cleanings and x-rays. We're also proposing the ppo plan that has a 2,000-dollar maximum. We heard from the employees that they needed more money to spend on dental treatment, so the ppo plan has a 2,000-dollar annual maximum. It also has the max preventive waiver. Where your preventive services don't track towards your maximum, which we think is worth about 300 to 350 depending on where you go for your annual cleanings and x-rays and things. The ppo and the max plan have a few other upgrades such as the coverage for the pario chips, which are the anti-microbial agents that are implanted to help with the perry do not al disease, so it's antibiotics basically that help with the pairry do not al disease. And lifetime of smiles, which is the way of saying they're not going to cover every single treatment that you have. Like we're seeing right now every single thing that you do practically is being questioned by the insurance company. We wanted to get away from that. If your doctor has said that what you need is dentally necessary, then that is what they say that they will process. What we would like today from the court is an approval to go forward with the assurance plans for our open enrollment that starts next monday. And our fy 11 plan year.
>> the contract will be brought back next week, be finalized. We're asking the court to approve them as our new dental carrier.
>> we currently are with met life, and i think that's where we are as far as dental situation. There is a list of several physicians that were attached to the backup. And there may be some physicians that is not included on this list that is before us today that -- and these dentists that are on this list are the ones that i assume that have been contacted and have agreed to basically go with -- we'd be able to provide the services under the assurant insurance.
>> there's a separate list for hmo and separate list for --
>> right. So i guess if there is an employee who wants to make sure that their physician who they may be comfortable with, if they're comfortable with that particular dentist and their names do not appear on the list, what would they do to make sure that their dentist is a part of the new insurance coverage under assurant.
>> if they would e-mail me the contact information for the dentist, assurant is on the streets right now contacting any providers they know we have already that are not on their list f you have one that you want contacted, send me an e-mail and i'll guard it on to our -- forward it on. Now, i can't promise that every dentist will agree to contract with them, but we can talk to them.
>> they will be notified, is that correct?
>> yes.
>> if the person that -- the employee, retired person that looks at this and say, well, i want to make sure that my dentist is aware of it.
>> right.
>> so they e-mail you at what address for those that do not get in touch with the director.
>> it's cindy.purrington at traviscountytx.gov.
>> to make the court aware, there's a process that the dentist goes through, credentialing. Sometimes credentialing is accepted by assurance, sometimes it isn't. So there's no guarantee that the dentist will be added to the network. Rose dale on is their network and we've been asked by a number of employees if they were going to be added. They are on the network for the dhmo and the ppo two indemnity programs. So the dentists continually are added and some drop off. So that is something that we can --
>> then, dan, i guess the question would be how would the employee know whether or not the dentist is accepted? Something needs to tell them something, especially with this window of opportunity that is very short as far as enrollment is concerned. They want to make sure that hey, is my dentist really a part of this or must i look for another dentist?
>> on the dhmo the dentist will be loaded into the open enrollment system. So if you sign up for the dhmo, it will take you directly to the current list. On the ppo, we're going to make the directories available. As a matter of fact, i soint a global e-mail this morning that had the directory and that's where the network is as it stands now. If you send us a provider and assureant contacts that provider, you will probably have to check back with the provider to see what the provider has decided to do. But we'll have updated directories available and you can get online as well to the assure ant website and see if your provider has contracted.
>> okay. Thank you.
>> move approval of staff recommendation.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much. We'll have a contract on the agenda next week?
>> yes.
>> with the wording identifying the vendor?
>> yes.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank y'all.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 2:35 PM
