The city gets a large health insurance refund
E-mail story Post a comment iPod friendly versionThe city of Emporia has received a health insurance refund of $583,826 for 2011 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an increase of $403,789 from the previous year.
“Blue Cross/Blue Shield will talk more about this Wednesday, but basically, the short version is they set rates based on what they think you are going to spend the next year, which is kind of a moving three-year average,” City Manager Matt Zimmerman said. “But because we haven’t been with them until 2009, they had to estimate higher because we were an unknown quantity.
“Well, now they’ve got three years under their belt, and they can see the amount of utilization that we have, they realized that the rates were probably higher than they needed to be, and so that built a reserve. In addition, as we have been building more and more reserve over time because their rates were higher than they needed to be, that created a larger reserve pool than they needed. And so that increases the refund.”
In rounded numbers, the city’s employees’ share of the refund is $141,117, and the city’s share is $398,776, Zimmerman said in a Feb. 17 interoffice memorandum. The library’s share of the refund is $16,936, and the Recreation Commission’s share is $26,995.
The city commission will determine how to utilize the refund during the Wednesday study session, Zimmerman said.
Kansas Blue Cross Health Insurance - News
By Jason Johnston The city of Emporia has received a health insurance refund of $583826 for 2011 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an increase of $403789 from the previous year. “Blue Cross/Blue Shield will talk more about this Wednesday,
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Health insurance option brewing for small nonprofits - KansasCity.com
A plan that could be an option to reduce health care benefits costs for small nonprofit organizations will be introduced next week to Kansas City area nonprofit leaders.</p><p>The plan, designed by The Mission Center, a St. Louis-based company that provides back-office support to nonprofits, already has signed up about 60 Missouri nonprofits to participate.</p><p>Provided on contract with United HealthCare, the plan allows small nonprofits to collectively get lower health insurance rates than they might negotiate alone.</p><p>The Mission Center worked with USI Insurance, a benefits broker, to create the affiliated plan.</p><p>The concept of a plan wholly designed for small nonprofits appealed to officials with Nonprofit Connect, an educational and networking organization in the Kansas City area.</p><p>Nonprofit Connect has invited area nonprofit executives to a free information session at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Kauffman Foundation Conferecne Center, 4801 Rockhill Road.</p><p>Michelle Davis, executive director of Nonprofit Connect, said the high price of employee health insurance in small nonprofits is a regular topic of conversation among the membership, and the organization wanted to introduce alternatives.</p><p>Chris Miller, chief executive of The Mission Center, said his company didn’t originally intend to get into the health insurance arena. It was founded mainly to provide human resource and accounting assistance to nonprofits, but he, like Davis, repeatedly heard about nonprofits’ health insurance needs and costs.</p><p>Some local nonprofit organizations already participate in group plans such as BlueKC, a small-business affiliated plan offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.</p><p>.
A plan that could be an option to reduce health care benefits costs for small nonprofit organizations will be introduced next week to Kansas City area nonprofit leaders. The plan, designed by The Mission Center, a St. Louis-based company that provides back-office support to nonprofits, already has signed up about 60 Missouri nonprofits to participate. Provided on contract with United HealthCare, the plan allows small nonprofits to collectively get lower health insurance rates than they might negotiate alone. The Mission Center worked with USI Insurance, a benefits broker, to create the affiliated plan. The concept of a plan wholly designed for small nonprofits appealed to officials with Nonprofit Connect, an educational and networking organization in the Kansas City area. Nonprofit Connect has invited area nonprofit executives to a free information session at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Kauffman Foundation Conferecne Center, 4801 Rockhill Road. Michelle Davis, executive director of Nonprofit Connect, said the high price of employee health insurance in small nonprofits is a regular topic of conversation among the membership, and the organization wanted to introduce alternatives. Chris Miller, chief executive of The Mission Center, said his company didn’t originally intend to get into the health insurance arena. It was founded mainly to provide human resource and accounting assistance to nonprofits, but he, like Davis, repeatedly heard about nonprofits’ health insurance needs and costs. Some local nonprofit organizations already participate in group plans such as BlueKC, a small-business affiliated plan offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. .