County monthly health insurance premium will increase 2.5 percent

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

While some county entities are bracing for a significant health-insurance premium increase, Henry County is not among the group.

That?s because county health-insurance premiums will rise by just 2.5 percent during the next fiscal year. County supervisors approved the increase during Thursday?s board meeting, after receiving a presentation from Denise Ballard, a broker with Two Rivers Insurance Services, of Burlington.

Henry County, which also has a self-funding component to its health insurance plan, was targeted for a nine-percent increase before switching to a different plan. The new plan raises the single deductible from $4,000 to $5,000 and the family deductible to $10,000 from $5,000.

?By changing the plan, you received fresh underwriting and got a better rate,? Ballard told the supervisors. ?You have room in the future that if you have to do more self-funding to keep the rate down, you can do it.?

The county pays the full single premium for its employees and if employees desire family coverage, they must pay 13 percent ($94.95) of the difference between the single and family premiums. The monthly single premium is $658.60 and the monthly family premium is $1,384.51.

Henry County is a member of the Iowa Governmental Health Care Plan (IGHCP), which is a consortium of 26 government entities, including counties, cities and school districts.

Ballard said one county in the group is facing a 40-percent health insurance premium increase next year.

Since the county joined the consortium in 2005, Henry County?s health-insurance premiums have risen annually about three percent, Ballard said, ?because self-funding reduces cost.?

Premiums are largely based on claim history. The county experienced a loss ratio of 105 percent in 2015, meaning that Wellmark, the county?s insurance carrier, paid out five percent more in county claims than it received in premiums. In the 11 years, the county has been with the group, its annual loss ratio has averaged 120 percent.

Delta Dental provides the dental insurance and premiums will not increase. The county pays the full single monthly premium of $29.12, and if the employee wants family coverage, he/she must pay the difference between the single premium and family premium of $77.56.

Sarah Berndt, county coordinator of disability services/general assistance director, gave her monthly report to the supervisors. Berndt said that the county drop-in center, located on West Monroe Street in Mt. Pleasant, is working out well.

?It appears that our drop-in center is meeting their (clients) basic needs. People who attend are more there for a social reason. They are meeting the people at where they need to for wellness,? Berndt said. ?I think it is doing a good job with the money invested.?

Berndt said the Southeast Iowa Link, the regional medical-health services provider, is working on its budget and toward a group entity rather than a collection of counties. ?We want the region to move forward more as a region, instead of counties in a region.?

Some new SEIL programs should begin sometime in fiscal 2017, Berndt said. ?There won?t be anything costly at the start of next (fiscal) year,? she explained. ?If anything expensive comes along, it will be five or six months into the next budget year. The issue with new programs is the start-up costs.?

County supervisors meet again in regular session Tuesday, March 1, at 9 a.m. in the courthouse.