SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – One of the region’s largest health care providers weighed in Friday on the debate over the city of Shreveport’s health insurance coverage plans for employees and retirees.
Ochsner LSU Health plays a major role in the region’s health care. As the City of Shreveport debates a new health care plan for its employees and pensioners, Chief of Medicine Dr. Charles Fox wants to put to rest any misconceptions or fears people may have about accessing system doctors.
“People will not lose their relationship with their current provider. I think there was a lot of fear that I heard in meetings about people having to lose that relationship with the provider. This has been saved. This is not going away. Costs will not increase. In fact, there is a possibility that the costs will decrease,” said Dr. Charles Fox.
The Health Care Trust Fund Board has approved an optional Medicare Advantage plan for retirees as a cost-saving option for both patients and the city. The city council approved it to move forward.
“The Medicare Advantage plan is basically an option for those retirees and their families if they want to join and have their care at Ochsner LSU. They are some price differences when you look at the different plans and choose to participate. The good news is for those on an existing plan that the cost of that plan will not change. It will not grow. You won’t lose that coverage. But if you want to switch to another health care system, you have that option. There are some cost differences between the various options that may be attractive to some people and perhaps not to others, depending on your health care needs at that point in your life.
As the Health Care Trust Fund Board develops a new master plan, Ochsner LSU Health is supportive of the first level plan proposed for 2023.
“The first state, the price for this would be a little lower than the other two levels,” said Dr. Fox.
He said that under the tiered plan, patients receiving care in any of the systems or independent providers would see little or no cost increase. The proposed plan is the same as the existing plan, except those who choose Tier One will pay less, plus the city will pay less, the tiers are not mutually exclusive, and patients can go to different doctors at different tiers.
“The whole point of the trust fund proposal to the city council is to create more options for individuals. More choices. I think we have three great health care systems in the city, and we’ve found that some people use one or the other, and they want to preserve that choice, and the good news is that it’s preserved from all these different things that are being preserved. ,” said Dr. Fox.
The Health Care Trust Fund’s board will bring the new plan to the city council, which has 15 days to ratify it or send it back to its board.
