By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Overton Power District Board of Directors unanimously approved a 2016 group health benefits plan for district employees during a meeting held on Wednesday last week in Mesquite.
In her report, OPD Assistant General Manager Terry Romero told board members that her staff had been, for much of the past year, researching and comparing rates in the group insurance market in search of the best rates.
“We started in early 2015 by contacting an insurance broker to help us compare rates from different companies,” Romero said.
Staff also requested quotes from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), a service organization that supports more than 900 not-for-profit electric cooperatives across the country. OPD belongs to the NRECA, and currently obtains its group health insurance plan through the cooperative.
Romero said that she received a quote from NRECA for coverage with the same benefits as the current plan, and with no change to what the employee pays for the coverage. The plan included medical and prescription drug benefits with a $1300 deductible for individuals and $2600 for families. The dental plan offers 90% coverage after a $50 deductible capping out at $2000 per year. The vision plan allows for one set of glasses or contacts per year. Life insurance coverage under the plan is based the dollar amount of the employee salary. And a health savings account option has the district paying a portion of the employee’s deductible into an account.
The 2016 quote for these coverages through NRECA came in at $753,317 for the year, Romero said. This was only 1.3% above last year’s cost, she said.
“That’s amazing,” said OPD attorney Byron Mills, who also serves as counsel to the Moapa Valley Water District. “Over at the water district, their cost went up 16 percent. And that was amazing, I thought, compared to what I have had to go up in my business.”
Romero also reported on what her staff had found in comparing these NRECA quotes with what the insurance broker was offering. She said that they had given all of the rate quote information from the NRECA to the broker in June so that they knew the coverage and rates and could produce a true quote.
“The rates they quoted us couldn’t get anywhere near the NRECA,” Romero said. “To get down anywhere near the same cost, we were losing a lot of coverage.”
So then focusing on the NRECA plan, OPD staff began working on different scenarios within the plan that would squeeze additional savings. By tweaking those elements slightly, Romero said that she had been able to settle on a plan that would cost $3,943 less than the 2015 cost.
“This looks fabulous,” said Board member Judy Metz. “I am dealing with family members who every year are facing higher deductibles and the prescription costs are getting out of hand. So when I look at this I am wanting to tell them to apply here instead.”
“I really like the fact that you shopped the different plans as best you could,” said board member Young. “I remember last year you accepted this plan without fully doing that. And this is so god and it has been a trubute to what you guys have put into it. I think it gives us a lot of confidence in what you have done here.”
On another agenda item, the board approvced the purchase of a cyber security liability insurance policy.
In her report, Romero detailed the various risk protection techniques which the district has in place to prevent a cyber security breach.
“Unfortunately, in today’s world, even after all of these safeguards, it is still impossible to achieve perfect cyber security protection,” Romero said. “That is why insurance coverage like this is needed to protect the district, our customers and our employees personal information.”
The proposed policy would offer the maximum offered at $1 million in benefits. The cost for the policy would be $4,800 per year.
The board approved the purchase of the policy with a unanimous vote.
