ERS Contract is sweet deal for Perry insiders

[TexasTowelie]

On Thursday, February 23, I wrote this brief post about the Employees Retirement System’s decision to award the health insurance contract for state employees and retirees to UnitedHealthcare:

The Perry gravy train is back on the track. UnitedHealthCare is a client of … Mike Toomey. What a remarkable coincidence.

I went on to quote from the release:

Chris Cronn, a former Perry staffer, will become Vice-President for state affairs for UnitedHealthCare, and other former Perry staffers are on the gravy train. Their names appear below, following the text of an email that went out on Wednesday: UnitedHealthcare was selected by the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) to be the third party administrator of the HealthSelect of Texas health insurance plan. As the administrator, UnitedHealthcare will process claims, provide customer service and manage the HealthSelect network starting September 1, 2012. We will be working with ERS, and the current administrator, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, to make the transition as easy as possible for all HealthSelect members.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/

[sonias]

1. What a remarkable coincidence - Not!

But the combination of possible influence peddling by the governor and his former staffers turned lobbyists, and the potential impact of the plan on thousands of state employees, should motivate the state’s leadership (excluding Perry) to determine whether state employees are getting the best possible deal here.

This is Rick Perry Burka! You should know better than to expect any above board ethical behavior from Mr. Quid pro Quo. If the country things Rod Blagojevich was the most corrupt Governor in recent memory, they've never looked under Rick Perry's rock. The biggest difference between the two is that Blagojevich got caught. Nobody has been taping Rick Perry's office and phone - he's just as sleazy selling out public assets and profiting from it.

So OK he's not stupid enough to take the money directly. But you know that somewhere down the line UnitedHealthcare will be taking care of Rick Perry somehow. Maybe his kid goes to work for them, maybe his wife. Rick Perry never walks away from a backroom deal empty.

[white cloud]

2. LOL great job Perry

Rick Perry never walks away from a backroom deal empty.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Rick Perry, Rick Scott

Not much of a difference.

[Ilsa]

4. I'm not sure I understand. Are all state employees

Being switched to UHC and their BCBS is being dropped? Or is this only for retirees?

[TexasTowelie]

5. I went to the ERS Website and my impression is that it would also apply to current employees.

You might want to check this link to see if you agree. Note that HealthSelect is listed within the Employee Overview portion.

http://www.ers.state.tx.us/Employees/Insurance/HealthSelect/

Needless to say, this should create plenty of turmoil and financial expense if people have to change medical providers or move to out-of-network coverage.

You might also want to contact the Texas Public Employees Association at [phone] to speak with someone for confirmation.

[Ilsa]

6. Thanks, I'll pass this info on

to my friends who work at the county extension agency. I suppose they've heard already, though. It's a shame if they suffer financially from the switch. They've been so helpful.