By Billy Davis

Panola County government, already bracing for a penny-pinching budget in the fall, was facing a $483,932 increase in health insurance premiums when it opted for a cheaper plan this week.

The county Board of Supervisors on Monday voted to drop insurance provider Humana in favor of United Healthcare.

Supervisors also changed the county’s independent agent, choosing Gathings Insurance Partners of Ridgeland to replace E. Inc. Insurance Services of Madison.

The independent agent serves as liaison between county government and the insurance provider.

Gathings will take over July 1, with agent Keith Scoggins overseeing Panola County’s coverage.

“I will be at your beck and call to answer your employees’ questions,” Scoggins assured supervisors.

“Insurance is no better than the agent who’s selling it,” Supervisor Kelly Morris told Scoggins, prior to the board vote, a short time later.

The new insurance coverage through United Healthcare begins August 1.

The county had little choice in finding a new health insurance provider: Humana had quoted a renewal rate of $726.24 per county employee per month, up from the current rate of $499.68.

That price amounted to a 45-percent increase over the current rate, which would gobble up almost a half-million dollars in a budget that is expected to be tight.

But Humana, conversely, had little choice but to hike its rates after county employees’ insurance claims totaled 30 percent more than the company received in premiums from the county. 

The company has paid $1.4 million in claims this year and collected $1,078,000 in payments, according to “loss ratio” figures provided to supervisors.

Humana’s 130-percent loss ratio had jumped from 108 percent the previous year, said county Administrator Kelley Magee.

With Humana posting two years of losses, Panola County’s bid request to other insurance providers went unanswered, according to Magee.

“United is the only one who would quote us,” she said.

In fact, three independent insurance companies pitched their own health insurance plans – all of them from United Healthcare – to Panola County, said board president Gary Thompson.

“It was just a matter of which agent we chose,” he said of supervisors’ pick of an independent firm.  

Panola County government has provided enviable health insurance for its employees, even paying for so-called “gap coverage” that pays for costly deductibles.

But supervisors and Magee, faced with balancing the county budget, dropped the gap coverage in the newest plan by United Healthcare.

Under a new “dual option” plan, 131 county employees have two choices:

 •Choose a county-paid plan, which includes a $2,500 deductible for hospital stays, surgeries or various procedures, at a cost to the county of $521 a month.

•Supplement the county’s $521 payment by paying $49.54 a month to receive a $1,000 deductible.

Each plan includes a $35 co-pay for doctors’ visits.

By choosing the $35 co-pay over a $25 co-pay, the county stands to save $22,000 a year, Scoggins told supervisors Monday.

Supervisors voted to continue with Humana for dental and vision care insurance, announcing that United Healthcare was used by too-few dentists and optometrists in the county.

Even with the $49 fee, county employees will benefit from the new insurance plan, said Robbie Haley, a sheriff’s department administrative assistant. Her employment background includes 15 years at Whitten Insurance in Batesville.

Haley, along with deputy chancery clerk Malia Brewer, listened to agents’ presentations on behalf of the county.

“We had to do something because of the loss ratio,” said Haley. “I feel proud the county is still paying for our insurance.”

“A lot of employers are making their employees pay for their own insurance. We’re fortunate,” Haley added.