<Article edited to show only the comments by
Traci Mitchell, Staff Council President, on the
State Insurance Issue>
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The council also discussed state employee insurance benefits, which are currently in the process of consolidation. This will require all state employees to be covered under the same insurance network. The new, unified network will be facilitated byAdvanced Health Systems (AHS), a subsidiary of Blue Cross.
"There are really two issues at heart here," Mitchell said. "One is the value of the benefits offered to the employees through the state insurance plan, and the second is the lack of physicians who have signed up for the new AHS plan."
Mitchell said that the staff council's main concern is the lack of physicians in the North Mississippi area that have signed on with AHS.
"This is totally unacceptable on behalf of the state employees," Mitchell said. "Our hope is that both sides will come to the table and negotiate to find a solution that is in the best interest of all concerned. We also feel that it is unfortunate that, as of today, the physicians in North Mississippi and AHS are still unable or unwilling to reach an agreement for a plan that is to take effect Jan. 1. As state employees, we need to know where we stand."
Mitchell said that the insurance changes would affect all state employees, including over 8,000 employees in Lafayette and surrounding counties, and will have a significant local impact if the local physicians do not sign on.
The staff council approved a resolution to encourage both local physicians
and the insurance providers work on resolving their differences. The resolution
was based on a similar Faculty Senate resolution currently being debated.