Teachers claiming their medical bills are not being paid

Some employees of the School District are having problems with their health insurance, with medical bills not being paid, according to a union official. Dick Coggon, a member of the the executive committee of the Laconia Education Association (LEA) last night asked the School Board, "Is there a good reason the district isn't sending sufficient funds to cover expenses?"

The question followed an explanation by Coggon that at least a couple of employees have had serious problems with Atlantic Administrators refusing to make payments for covered expenses. But Coggon said that upon directly confronting Atlantic Administrators — the company that administers the self-insurance program adopted by the city a couple of years ago for municipal and school employees — an LEA representative was told by Atlantic that "the checks for payment are sitting on my desk but I can't send them out until the district covers them."

When Coggon asked directly if the district had been making the required payments to Atlantic on a monthly or quarterly basis, school Business Administrator Ed Emond assured him that it had, and that the district has not nor will not have any problem paying what it's obligated to pay.

But neither Emond nor board chair Marge Kerns was willing to offer any explanation as to why there was a problem. "Have them (the two employees) call the superintendent tomorrow so we can look into it," Kerns advised, insisting that she had no idea as to what the problem might be and wouldn't know until the matter was further investigated.

Following the meeting, Coggon acknowledged that he wasn't satisfied with the answers he'd received and even though he plans to have the employees call Superintendent Bob Champlin, he's not at all convinced it will do any good.

"One of the employees spoke to Emond today," Coggon said, "and he just got stonewalled."

Coggon suggested that the issue wouldn't be that big a deal except that the sums of money that had not been paid were significant. "People generally don't get excited unless it's a substantial amount," he said.

Champlin, questioned after the meeting, reiterated Kerns' position that until the matter was further investigated there was no light he could shed on the problem. "Once we've had a chance to look into it, we'll give you an answer," he said.

When pressed, Champlin acknowledged that the district continues to deal with the fallout from the self-insurance program the city arranged through the Melcher & Prescott Agency which was later discovered to have been misrepresented by former agent Alexander Ruch. The plan, which combined a self-insurance fund with stop-loss coverage that paid claims in a excess of a specific threshold, exposed the city to higher risk and higher costs than had been promised by Ruch. On discovering the irregularities, Melcher & Prescott promptly agreed to cover any unpaid claims incurred by the city.

While Champlin would not confirm that the problems that surfaced last evening could be traced to Ruch, he did indicate that the school district will take care of its employees, and that Melcher & Prescott has promised to make good on any losses incurred as a result of the misrepresentation by Ruch.