Health switch possible

The Jay County Commissioners are considering moving county employees to a partially self-funded health insurance plan that could greatly lower its premium and reduce monthly out-of-pocket expenses for those employees.
The commissioners reviewed a proposed plan from their health insurance provider Apex that would set up a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) that would help to lower the county’s premium and possibly total expenditures..
The HRA is a fund that is paid into by the employer to cover the out-of-pocket costs for employees until they reach their deductible. Money that remains in the HRA fund at the end of the year can be rolled over to the next year.
The plan the commissioners were considering would double the employee’s deductible to $3,000 from $1,500. However, up to $1,500 of that deductible could be covered out of the county-funded HRA so there would be no difference to the employee.
By doubling the deductible, the premium rate would decrease by around $150,000 per year for the county. The county could potentially be responsible for up to an additional $1,500 for all of the county’s 134 employees out of the HRA, although that scenario is unlikely.
If the commissioners kept the current plan with a $1,500 deductible, the premium would increase by 11.89 percent or about the same amount as if every employee used up his or her $1,500 HRA allowance.
The commissioners agreed that the county could continue to pay $500 per month per employee but maybe decrease the employee contribution slightly because of the expected decrease in the overall insurance premium.
“Let’s just put the $500 in … because it’s already in the budget,” said commissioner Faron Parr.
The commissioners discussed reducing the single employee pay-in from $26.61 per pay period to maybe $15 or $20. Although the county could keep the rate the same and build up its HRA quicker, the commissioners were leaning toward reducing employee expense a bit.
“I still like the idea of lowering what the employee pays,” said commissioner Jim Zimmerman.
The plan would also reduce the cost to the six employees carrying employee/spouse coverage and the 11 people carrying employee/child coverage.
The commissioners took the information under advisement and will make a decision at a later date.[[In-content Ad]]