Yes, it has been a mess.
And it still is.
The Health Care Trust Fund Board (HCTFB) is responsible for the selection of health-care plans for Shreveport employees and retirees.
After two recent meetings of the board and two council sessions, the Gordian knot remains.
Bottom line: The issue addressed without resolution at all of these meetings was whether the Willis-Knighton Health Care System (WK) received fair treatment in the insurance bid process.
The Aug. 17 meeting of the HCTFB was a great example in how not to run a board meeting. More succinctly, how not to treat 40 or so city employees/retirees who had to stand for 90 minutes in the mayor’s conference room at Government Plaza.
The big town hall-type HCTFB meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 3, was held in Riverview Hall. This time the 200 or so attendees had chairs, but no clear audible system to hear comments and votes by the board members.
The vote on the three-tier insurance plan was announced to be approved on a 5-3 vote.
At a Friday, Sept. 9, press conference, Mayor Adrian Perkins announced that the plan failed on a 4-3 vote.
Eventually, the confusion was explained.
Council member and HCTFB member Jerry Bowman Jr. abstained from the plan vote, rather than voting to approve. Thus, the actual vote was 4 for, 3 against and one abstention.
The board has nine member slots, one of which is vacant. Thus, five votes are needed for board action.
The Shreveport City Council heard over an hour of comments on the proposed plan at its Monday, Sept. 12, work session. The issue on fair treatment of WK was further compounded by the comments of visitors and the administration.
In an effort to resolve the WK issue, Mayor Perkins held a press conference minutes before the Tuesday, Sept. 13, regular session of the council.
At that time, Perkins held up a thick, bound package from Aetna Insurance Company that he claimed resolved the issue of whether or not Aetna and WK had fair treatment. His comments raised more questions than they provided answers.
The next chapter of the health insurance debacle followed at the council meeting. This time, comments from visitors, health-care officials, council members and the administration stretched over 90 minutes.
At times the comments were civil. And at other times, somewhat embarrassing, especially those by Councilman John Nickelson, who played both “Larry Lawyer” in his questions to Aetna’s counsel and then demagogue when taking WK to the woodshed.
The extended comment session only further clouded the water.
In what hopefully is good news (?), Council President James Green announced that he had brokered a deal where Mayor Perkins and Chief Administrative Officer Henry Whitehorn would meet with WK officials the week of Sept. 19 to discuss a resolution of the health insurance conundrum.
This big powwow will be held before the next meeting of the HCTFB.
What options are available to all the players – the board, the administration, Ochsner and WK – are unknown at this time.
What is known is that big, big bucks are involved for the city, who will need to underwrite a projected deficit in the self-funded insurance plan, the two hospital systems and, potentially, to city employees and retirees who incur substantial health expenses in 2023.