Thousands of Denver Public Schools employees and their families will be able to keep their doctors with Kaiser Permanente Colorado for an additional year after the Board of Education voted Thursday to extend the district’s contract with the insurer.
The school board’s decision comes after DPS leaders recommended that directors approve a plan to drop Kaiser as one of the providers available to employees who buy health insurance through the district. Under that plan, DPS staff would have been required to get coverage from either MotivHealth Insurance Company or UnitedHealthcare.
But Superintendent Alex Marrero’s handling of the health insurance bidding process — which led to an outside investigation and the district’s human resources director being placed on leave — drew scrutiny from school board members during a meeting Thursday evening.
Directors expressed frustration that they were given two options: either extend DPS’s current health insurance contracts for a year or approve the outcome of the bidding process and drop Kaiser.
“While I’m glad there are two recommendations before us, I have to be honest and say that I was disheartened how we got to these two recommendations,” board Vice President Monica Hunter said.
Kaiser spokesperson Elizabeth Whitehead said the insurer appreciated the decision to extend its contract and offer the opportunity to submit a new bid.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue serving DPS employees and their families, and our focus is on meeting and exceeding the expectations of our patients and the school district,” she said in a statement. “We’d like nothing more than to continue our partnership for many years to come.”
Kaiser has provided coverage for DPS employees for more than 50 years, but the relationship between the two organizations eroded after district officials said the insurer was outbid last year by three other providers for a three-year contract.
DPS didn’t want to move forward with Kaiser because of costs, so the insurer sent a revised proposal to the district, an action DPS leaders have said violated the bidding process.
The action also led DPS to launch a third-party investigation and place DPS Chief of Talent Edwin Hudson on administrative leave over concerns that he had “inappropriate communication” with Kaiser during the bidding process. The investigation did not find evidence of wrongdoing, district officials have said.
With their decision Thursday, the school board is requiring DPS to reopen the bidding process for insurers later this year. MotivHealth’s and UnitedHealthcare’s current contracts with the district are also extended.
The extension was requested by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, which has criticized DPS’s handling of the bidding process because employees found out from Kaiser — not the district — that their health coverage would end on July 1.
Kaiser is the most popular insurer for DCTA members, with about 5,800 DPS employees and their families receiving health care from the provider.
Director John Youngquist aimed most of his criticism at Marrero, questioning the superintendent about why he didn’t make a single recommendation on how the district should move forward with health coverage, given it’s an operational issue.
Marrero, when pressed by Youngquist before the board’s vote, said he was “solidified” on one of the options, but changed his mind and was now “50-50” on how the district should move forward.
“Since there were questions related to the process, I’m asking you all to make this decision,” Marrero told Youngquist.
Marrero said it was unusual for the school board to hold a closed session to discuss a contract bidding process, as members did during a meeting earlier this month: “The process… in terms of meddling and interference, unfortunately, had major impacts.”
Board President Xóchitl Gaytán was the only member to vote against extending Kaiser’s coverage, saying that the decision could “weaken the district’s bargaining power.”
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