OKLAHOMA CITY (March 30, 2009) –The Oklahoma Public Employees Association voiced concerns about the continuing misconceptions being raised by legislators and the media regarding the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board (HealthChoice) claims payments.
“The blame for late provider payments lies not with the agency and the state employees working at OSEEGIB,” said OPEA Executive Director Sterling Zearley. “EDS, the private vendor that has the claims processing contract, cannot keep up with the work the corporation signed on to perform.”
OPEA emphasized the issue is not lack of funds at OSEEGIB, but incompetence at EDS, who cannot keep up with the number of claims--something for which they should have been prepared.
In response to a press release by Rep. Doug Cox, OPEA called the EDS incompetency a case of “privatization gone wild.”
“We agree with Rep. Cox that this private company is completely bungling the claims process,” continued Zearley. “If Dr. Cox is correct and EDS does not have the competency to handle this situation, the state should cancel the contract and move this in-house.”
“OSEEGIB cannot be responsible for EDS’s inability to provide basic claims service,” said Zearley. “There is little doubt that EDS’s poor customer service is creating a massive hardship for doctors, hospitals and state employees.”
“We know it’s not politically correct to point out the incompetency of the private sector,” concluded Zearley. “But it is what it is.”
Oklahoma Public Employees Association (www.opea.org) is a non-profit labor organization that has represented the interests of state employees at the capitol in Oklahoma since 1975.
Posted on
Mon, March 30, 2009
by Mark Beutler