In light of difficulties with denied claims, Peachtree City's new medical insurance carrier, United Healthcare, has pledged to send a representative to City Hall monthly to assist employees with the process.

The city saved $553,000 by switching carriers and 80 percent of the providers on the previous network are on the United plan, Administrative Services Director Jane Miller told the City Council last week. But communicating with United is more difficult than with the city's previous carrier, because no one employee is specifically assigned to handle the city's questions and the city is not one of United's larger clients, Miller noted.

"United Healthcare is not as responsive to calls as AMS," Miller said.

A United representative said the company wants to work with the city, and he noted that roughly $5,352 in claims have gone unpaid so far. Many of the originally reported unpaid claims totaling up to $25,000 were due to double-billing errors, the representative said.

The company is pledging to communicate better with city employees and provide additional training on how to submit claims via the company's Web site.

"I am encouraged by the fact that you are here," councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford told United representatives.