Upcoming Health Care Committee Meeting

Labor RepresentationFeatured Member Articles

Jul 1

Every year in May and July, Human Resources staff meet with the Health Care Committee, made up of representatives from each of the County’s bargaining units. On July 9, 2024, the County will hold its second Health Care Committee meeting with the representatives and will be providing their 2025 Renewal Presentation, which should include renewal rates for January 2025.

SLOCEA staff and SLOCEA’s bargaining unit (BU) representatives listed below will be attending.

BU 01, Public Services: Mark McCullough
BU 02, Trades, Crafts & Services: Robert St. Cyr
BU 05, Supervisory: Tim Faes
BU 13, Clerical: Norma Domingo

As per SLOCEA’s MOUS, the role of the representatives is to:

Meet as often as is reasonably necessary.
Monitor health care plans.
Make cost containment recommendations.
Make future recommendations concerning rates

Following the meeting, SLOCEA’s representatives will present the information to the general membership on the 2025 renewal updates and benefit changes.

Employees with County-provided health care coverage recall all too well that County medical premium rates increased by 15.5% for January 2024. In addition, the County transitioned from the Anthem Blue Cross network of providers to a Blue Shield of California provider network. This change to in-network providers has proven problematic for many County employees.

Kate McMillen is a Librarian at the Arroyo Grande branch library and serves on the SLOCEA Steward Committee. On June 20, 2024, Kate sent the following letter to her 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding to describe the medical insurance challenges she is faced with. Her articulate and compelling letter hits at the heart of the issues many County employees are experiencing, especially those that have Tandem insurance coverage.

06/20/2024

Mr. Paulding,

The change in County insurance carriers is putting our community’s health at risk. When I first started my position with the County 8 years ago, the cafeteria benefit funds provided covered the most expensive insurance plan available with the highest level of benefits. This year, I am paying out of pocket each paycheck for Tandem, one of the cheapest healthcare plans that offer the least benefits.

My concern, as a single healthy person, is that both my therapist and my women’s healthcare provider do not take Tandem. Because of this, my preventative healthcare has been delayed. My appointment was scheduled for February and now I need a new doctor and will not see one until July.

What is happening to people that are in the middle of treatment for health conditions who now must switch providers? What is happening to my coworkers, who already struggle to pay for dependents? Dignity Health is the largest provider in our area and does not accept Tandem PPO. Accolade provided me with a 10-page list of 27 doctors, 4 of which accept my insurance.

Three out of the four doctors that do take Tandem PPO work through CHC. In addition to delaying access to care, I believe this change will put an additional burden on healthcare access in the entire county. CHC is one of the few options for care if you have no insurance, are on government assistance, or receive Medicare. Now, people in our community who are in worse situations must also share their limited resources for care with county employees who cannot afford to spend even more money on higher cost insurance plans.

I have attended a presentation from HR which assured me that the number of providers in the area and the level of coverage would be the same. This is simply not true. This is a change that impacts people’s access to preventative and ongoing care, and the decision to switch plans was irresponsible, to say the least. Delayed care can cost people their lives.

My confidence in HR is exceptionally low. No budget deficit should be an excuse for not providing affordable and accessible healthcare. How many staff hours has HR wasted promoting and educating people about this new health coverage? If you are worried about retention, and recruitment of new county employees, please provide better healthcare to people who serve this community. The situation is disgraceful. Please advocate for us.

Thank you for your time,

Kate McMillen

Librarian