County faces insurance spike

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

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Higher health insurance premiums will be facing county government in 2018.

The only question is, how much higher?

A special meeting has been set for 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 30, to determine an answer.

After several years of modest increases, a big jump in claims has prompted Anthem to propose boosting Jay County’s rates by 31 percent.

Actually, insurance consultant Jessica Clayton of Platinum Benefits told county commissioners Monday that Anthem’s original proposal was for a 38-percent hike.

“That’s a horrible increase,” said Clayton, who negotiated the increase down to 31 percent. “You had a couple of high-cost claimants,” she said.

Claims in 2017 were 67 percent higher than the prior year.

Clayton reviewed a number of alternatives. Those included:

•Switching to Physicians Health Plan, Fort Wayne, with a 20-percent increase in premiums for coverage that’s comparable to what county employees have now.

•Switching to PHP with a 15-percent increase and an increase in deductibles. Current coverage has a $3,000 deductible for individuals and a $6,000 deductible for families. Those would jump to $4,000 and $8,000 under this PHP proposal.

•Switching to United Health Care with a 20-percent increase. Clayton said UHC has developed a reputation for higher rate increases down the road.

Commissioners briefly looked at the possibility of self-funding the insurance but concluded that the risks and uncertainties were unacceptable.

“It is not a recommendation,” said Clayton.

Instead, she suggested the PHP plan with a 20-percent premium increase and coverage that’s comparable to today’s.

Currently, the county pays $525 per month toward the cost of each employee’s health insurance.

“The most we could chip in per employee would be $25 more per month,” said commissioner president Chuck Huffman.

Doing so would cost the county about $30,000 more per year in the general fund. That’s possible, said auditor Anna Culy, “if we are careful” about other spending during the year.

In other business, commissioners:

•Approved contracting with Appraisal Research for outside assistance during the four-year reassessment cycle. Total cost will be $118,000, which is down $9,050 from four years ago largely because most of the work is done in-house by assessor Diana Stults and her staff.

•Continued to hear questions about how much work can be done on the Salamonie River, particularly when it comes to logjams. “We do what we’re allowed to do on the Salamonie already,” said county surveyor Brad Daniels.

But commissioner Barry Hudson remains unconvinced that the necessary work is being done.

“We’re really in the process of investigating all this,” added Huffman, in response to questions by Rachel Stahl.

•Heard an update from Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bill Bradley about the organization’s strategic planning process. Bradley reported that fiber optic lines have been installed in Dunkirk Industrial Park for improved internet communication and said he’s continuing to be in touch with potential supermarket companies that might fill the gap left by the Marsh bankruptcy. “Everyone is moving very slowly in groceryland,” he said, noting that Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods has rattled the industry.

•Approved the purchase of a new shredder for the courthouse from 4U Office, Celina, Ohio, at a cost of $1,750. The low quote was from Progressive Office Products, Portland, at $1,450 but it was for a machine with smaller capacity.