Cape schools stay with EBO MD

In a unanimous vote, and despite a public challenge from a competing firm, the Cape Girardeau School Board voted Monday to authorize negotiation of a contract with Essential Benefit Offerings (EBO MD) for what school superintendent Neil Glass called "an add-on health benefits package" for district employees.

EBO MD, with clinics in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Fredericktown, has been associated with the district since 2018.

"EBO has gone above and beyond (for us)," said Glass, who said EBO supplements the Cape Girardeau schools' existing insurance package.

The company is a direct primary care service, meaning patients pay a monthly membership fee to access -- among other benefits -- office visits, lab work and telehealth.

"We received free flu shots this year (through EBO)," Glass said, "and also COVID-19 testing."

In an appeal before the vote, 180 Healthcare spokeswoman Jennifer Icaza-Gast asked the board to consider 180 instead, suggesting the company could provide more programs and coverage than EBO at the same $50 per employee, per month cost.

EBO MD co-founder Tony Thompson told the Southeast Missourian the district's monthly fee represents a corporate discount for employer-paid memberships, adding EBO coverage also includes retirees.

Icaza-Gast, noting the ongoing pandemic, said 180's coronavirus testing is less expensive.

"Our COVID testing is $125 per person while EBO's is $175," she said.

Glass said EBO was recommended by the district's Salary and Welfare Committee and received 56% support of district employees in a survey, while 180 Healthcare received just under 21% backing.

Icaza-Gast told Glass and all seven school board members that less than one-third of the district's 682 employees responded to the survey and she considered re-upping with EBO to be "rash" given such a limited sample response.

Notes

• Melissa Thomas, a second-grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary, was recognized for a Missouri Regional Teacher of the Year award.
• DaShonta Sterling, a student at Central Academy, was recognized for her winning essay in the JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates) essay contest. Sterling will represent the district at a reception Nov. 10 at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City, Missouri.
• A total of 250 meals are picked up each school day at Central Junior High for students in the Tigers@Home remote learning program.
• At the end of September, it was reported $8.3 million was in the district's general fund account.
• The Cape Schools Foundation announced the annual Penguin Party, with "very limited seating," will be held Feb. 13.