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Commissioners discuss COBRA administration, legal obligations and potential portal costs
Summary
County commissioners and staff debated how to manage COBRA and benefits administration, including outreach to SEPCO, a possible portal cost of about $2,000 per year, and uncertainty about legal obligations to pay second opinions and implications for union contracts.
During routine business, county officials spent substantial time discussing COBRA administration and how the county should handle benefit continuity and vendor management.
Staff member (S6) said the auditor's office asked about COBRA and reported outreach to SEPCO to evaluate whether SEPCO could manage the vision plan and other benefits. "So the auditor's office was asking about that...and so we reached out to SEPCO," S6 said.
Speakers debated manual management versus using a vendor portal. Commissioner (S2) and others described a potential portal fee in round figures: "for $2,000 a year" to manage benefits centrally, compared in discussion with a '3,500 a year' figure mentioned later in the exchange. Participants did not finalize a procurement decision; Chair (S2) suggested bringing Danielle into a future discussion for a deeper review.
The board also discussed legal obligations tied to paid medical second opinions and FMLA. Staff member (S6) and others asserted that federal law can require employers to pay for second opinions and, in some cases, a third opinion when earlier opinions conflict; participants said this could necessitate changes to the employee handbook and noted the potential impact on union-covered employees.
Speakers used differing employee-count estimates while considering the scale of any policy change (figures appearing in the discussion included '223,' '250,' and '350'). Commissioners agreed to place the issue on a future agenda and to circulate vendor and policy information for staff review before making policy changes.
Next steps recorded on the record included sending COBRA/benefits materials to the appropriate staff member (Danielle) for review and scheduling a more detailed discussion when relevant staff (including Todd) could attend.
