Calhoun County seeks statewide health insurance membership
The county government has insured itself since 1981, Conary said, but as spending on health care per employee increases, that model has become unviable.
"Under self-insurance, you have this huge fluctuation based on employee claims," Conary explained.
Self-insurance involves the county assuming liability for its 274 full-time employees' health coverage. Those employees contribute to an insurance fund, and in return, receive
When they visit a doctor, she bills the insurance provider; the
The problem, Conary says, is that as medical care gets more expensive -- claims consistently cost more now -- the cost to remain self-insured rises exponentially.
For employee claims more expensive than
When reinsurance picks up the rest of the bill, it increases the following year's cost of reinsurance -- like car insurance, which rises based on the insurers' calculations of liability, Conary said. That reinsurance cost last year bloated by
Joining the statewide health insurance program would spread the costs of expensive claims among member organizations, lessening the impact of those claims -- and the possibility for a rate increase.
"At least this way, you know ... this is the amount of money paid by
The program offers
Oxford's leaders think about making the switch from self-insurance to the statewide program every year, said city finance director
The city has funded its employees' insurance for at least two decades, he said Thursday, and it hasn't always been cheap.
"One year, we had three or four open-heart surgeries," Craft said. "Those are the kinds of things that will wipe out your self-funded program in a hurry."
These days, prescription drug costs have "gone over the moon," said Craft, and if those and other costs continue to rise, it's only a matter of time before Oxford joins the fold.
"There'll come a point one day when we'll have to go to the state," he said, because "the sheer numbers ... gives a better chance of keeping rates level."
Conary, who is chairman of the county's insurance committee, said that promise of stability was the main reason for the change.
"We felt like a more stable program" would make the county a better steward of taxpayer dollars, he said, "rather than rolling the dice on self-insurance."
Little will change for county employees under the new program, Conary says -- they'll get the same
The county and those on its payroll may save some money later, he said, as the government program offers lower insurance rates to two-year members, as well as to insured organizations that can get enough workers into a healthful habit-promoting wellness program.
It cost the county
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