8/29/1983 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r AUG 291983 BXX 54 PAC, 1? 9 4 County staff, and he believed that staff has done an excellent job of developing the plan and making sure the benefits are as equal as possible. Dr. Hardin believed the coverages are the same. He explained that we are looking at a deductible of 200/400 to be reached by the family as a unit. Chairman Bird asked if Dr. Hardin envisioned that we are going to go through this bidding on an annual basis as he felt it could become chaotic if we kept changing yearly. Dr. Hardin reported that staff had tried to negotiate with Aetna, giving them ideas they thought would help them reduce our costs, but in his estimation, Aetna did not cooperate with this until we actually went out to bid. He believed we would not have had to get to this point if Aetna had been willing to sit down and negotiate. Duncan Chalmers of the Zeuch Agency, representing Aetna, commented that their contract ran from 9/1/80 for a three year period, and he believed the political body had to go to bid in a three year period. He stated the only problem they ran into was that they were asked to quote rates all the way to 1/1/85; this would require about 20 months of rate guarantee and they would have had to pump in. about 1h$ - 2% per month for inflation. As to negotiation, he stated that they did have an official from Aetna come down from Hartford who wished to have an opportunity to have a few hours with the administration, but they only got to the first point when it was decided we had to go to bid. Administrator Wright informed the Board that when Aetna said there would be a 77% rate increase, it was his decision we had to go to bid. Commissioner Lyons asked Mr. Wright for his recommendation, and Mr. Wright believed the policies are very similar. He felt we have a very good bidding process and believed the price speaks for itself. 6