 National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 14 * July 20, 1998  New Program Designed to Make Health Care Health care and related costs can strain your employees' budgets even if they have medical insurance. Out-of-pocket costs for vision care, corrective lenses, prescription drugs, chiropractic services and other ancillary medical services are significant for many families. Furthermore, the retail prices on these types of services are increasing. The NACo Financial Services Center (NACo FSC) has developed a program that can now help relieve some of that burden - and significantly enhance your employee benefits program through its Employee Discount Card Program. Working through its partnership with The Insurance Center for Local Government, NACo FSC has developed an easy-to-use program in which county employees and retirees and their families have access to discount prices (up to 70 percent off) for ancillary health benefits including chiropractors, dentists, vision and hearing specialists and many others. Employee discounts are available for a wide range of health care-related services, including but not limited to: vision care, dental care, chiropractic care, prescription drugs, cosmetic surgery, hearing aids and nutritional supplements. Any combination of the services can be offered through the card. Therefore the program can be customized for each county to complement existing benefits programs. Various funding options are available, including an employer-paid program or a voluntary program, paid for by employees through payroll deduction. The discount card covers all members of an immediate family, regardless of size. Costs for the program depend on several variables, such as number of services covered by the card or number of employees. Since this program is not insurance, there are no claim forms, no pre-existing conditions, no waiting periods and no limits to the number of times your employees' families can use the membership. The employee or family member simply presents the discount card at the time of purchase and receives on-the-spot savings. The Employee Discount Card program is provided in conjunction with Universal Health Systems, one of the leading providers of discounted health care services. Universal Health Systems was selected as an Insurance Center partner through a competitive process that examined price, depth and breadth of offerings and service quality. Using the leverage of county employees and retirees nationwide, NACo FSC was able to secure reduced prices for this program as well as exceptional discounts for the health care services. For more information on this program and the availability within your state, contact Eugenia Aldinger at The Insurance Center toll free at 888/889-4254. If you attend the NACo Annual Meeting, this program will be presented as a part of the workshop titled "Employee Benefits: Staying Competitive Without Breaking the County Treasury." (Financial Services News was written by Eugenia Aldinger from the Insurance Center for Local Government.)
|