City chooses new insurance provider, coverage options

May 10—Terre Haute will have a new insurance company and coverage starting July 1, with two options of returning to a traditional preferred provider organization or using a health savings account.

The Terre Haute Board of Public Works and Safety Monday approved Siho/Union Health for an 18-month term. The city currently has been under a two-year agreement with the Teamsters Health Plan.

Siho Insurance Services will serve as the insurance administrator with Union Hospital providing health, wellness and disease management.

"This is an integrated health plan with a third party administrator of Siho (Insurance Services) out of Columbus Ohio," which is a company that is owned by hospitals and physicians, said Patrick Carney, director, employee benefits sales at EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, formerly ONI Risk Partners.

"They put these integrated health plans together with hospital systems, so Union Hospital can now compete against an Anthem and United Health Care," Carney told the board.

"A robust wellness program is included that includes a health risk assessment. We will not force employees to go through this but will encourage them," Carney said. "Union Hospital will come out to every fire station and the police station and do biometric screenings and encourage our employees take a health risk assessment.

"The whole idea is to create a base line. If I don't know that I am borderline diabetic, this will at least give me (and) a nurse, a health coach, (the information) to help me get healthier. It has disease management and case management and pre-certification and utilization review, so it will act just like any of our national carriers," Carney said.

Carney said the city would see an 8 percent increase for a renewal with the Teamsters plan, while Siho/Union will offer a preferred provider organization (PPO) and Health Service Account (HSA) plan.

"If you use a Tier 1 doctor or hospital, that is Union Hospital, and they are matching the benefit of the Teamsters," with a $250 deductible with $3,000 out of pocket, Carney said. "If you go to a non-Tier 1 hospital, it is a $750 deductible" with $4,000 out of pocket under a traditional PPO, he said.

"We are not forcing people to go, but is just incentivizing people to go to the Union Hospital family," Carney said. "We are giving members a choice again."

Carney said Union Hospital is opening up its convenient care facilities, such as on Indiana 46/U.S. 40 and on South Sixth Street, for seven days a week, with hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday as well as varying Saturday and Sunday hours.

"It extends the clinic to seven days a week. If you are on the HSA we have to implement a co-pay, but if you are on the PPO plan the clinic is at no cost," Carney said. "We will be the first employer to go with Union Hospital, which implemented this in 2020 for their own employees. They are now bringing it out to area employers."

The rates will be fixed from July to December 2022, "so it gets us back on a calendar year which is what we have been shooting for," he said. The city will also move to Delta Dental and VSP Vision Care.

Mike Odum, president of Firefighters Local 758, said the firefighter union was notified Thursday, but said that was not enough time to get response from members. Odum said he would like the city to give the Board of Public Works and Safety a longer time to reach a decision, saying Monday's meeting required the board to renew with the Teamsters or go to Siho/Union.

Odum said when the city went to the Teamsters plan, which had lower monthly premiums, it was not known until later that costly prescriptions did not count toward a deductible, which meant several people had to seek co-pay programs through drug manufacturers.

Board President John Stinson said insurance companies usually do not start until 60 to 90 days out to work with city officials, but the city could seek to get discussions to start 120 days from a renewal date.

City Attorney Eddie Felling said enrollment for the new insurance will start enrollment in the next few weeks. The city has about 540 full-time employees, but add in dependents and the total insurance enrollment is about 1,200 people, Felling said. The city has been working since December to look at options for other insurance, he said.

After the meeting, Felling said the insurance will cost the city about $7 million, but "will have several hundred thousand dollars of guaranteed savings over what our renewal rate would been with the Teamsters," he said.

"Where we are going now, premiums are going back up, but the PPO is still lower than where we were in 2018 (with Anthem), but now we have an HSA option as well, which is even cheaper. The city makes employer contributions to the HSA," he said. The city is formalizing an exact amount, but in past years contributed $750 to $1,250 depending on the plan, Felling said.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.