Pulaski County’s annual health insurance bill could be going up by more than $200,000, following a sharp increase in claims. Steve Gregory with Shepherd Insurance told the county commissioners last week that the plan hasn’t been running well. Cigna initially wanted to raise the cost by almost 44 percent but they negotiated it down to less than 20 percent.
“The county’s paying almost $963,000,” Gregory explained. “If you do not make any change to employee contributions and you do not make any change to the HSA contributions, then the expense to the county would go up to $1.173 million, so it’s a $210,000 increase.”
The commissioners were hesitant to take away any of county employees’ existing benefits. Commissioner Mike McClure felt county workers were “disgusted enough” and that increasing their contributions would “start a war.” He added that the county’s insurance is one of the things that attracts prospective employees. But it will all depend on how much money the county council is able to allocate, at a time when the county is already dealing with a budget shortfall.
But another company says it can actually lower Pulaski County’s health care costs. Eric Dreyfus with Assured Partners presented the commissioners with a “reference-based pricing model.” That’s where the county would offer to pay a specific price for various types of health care services, by taking what Medicare would pay and increasing it by a certain percentage.
“We’re talking anywhere between a $300,000 to $400,000 decrease,” Dreyfus said. “So instead of going from $1,100,000 to $1,300,000, we’re talking about going from $1,100,000 to probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $800,000.”
Dreyfus said Cass County has successfully used reference-based pricing for the past eight years. Still, the commissioners thought it sounded too good to be true and asked the county attorney to do more research. County Council Member Kathi Thompson also questioned whether the county could switch companies without opening it up for any company to bid.
But time is running out to make adjustments. Any insurance changes would take effect August 1, and employees would have to be given enough time to enroll in a new plan. The commissioners were scheduled to discuss funding availability with the county council Monday. The commissioners plan to make a decision on July 6.
