County will offer Health Savings Account

County employees will have the option to open a Health Savings Account next year.

Jay County Commissioners approved a new proposal Wednesday with Physicians Health Plan, which will increase deductibles but allow employees on the high-deductible health plan to open a Health Savings Account (HSA).

Employees' monthly rates will stay the same. They'll also receive "seed money" from the county for opening or maintaining an HSA, a savings account that lets folks set aside funds on a pre-tax basis to pay medical expenses.

Also with the new plan, commissioners agreed to add a benefit for short-term disability, which would provide 60% of an employee's earnings with up to a maximum of $1,500 per week for as long as 13 weeks.

Jessica Clayton of One Digital, a health insurance brokerage firm, reminded commissioners of the proposals she shared Oct. 23, which included a 4% renewal with the current plans offered through Physicians Health Plan or an alternative proposal with the same company. The alternative proposal, which was approved Wednesday, offered a high-deductible health plan for participants to open HSAs.

According to HealthCare.gov, untaxed dollars in an HSA may be used to pay for deductibles, co-payments, co-insurance and other expenses, and may lower out-of-pocket health care costs. HSAs may earn interest and are not taxable.

HSAs are only available to those on a high-deductible health plan, noted Clayton. In order to be eligible for the benefit to employees, she added, the county will need to amend its health reimbursement arrangement structure.

Jay County currently offers two plans: a high-deductible health plan and a co-pay plan. Individuals pay $4.58 monthly for the high-deductible health plan or $94.94 monthly for the co-pay plan.

Changes with the new structure include increasing the high-deductible health plan's deductible to $6,000 for individuals or $12,000 for families while covering 100% of the cost after employees reach that limit. (Currently the county has a $4,000 deductible for individuals and a $8,000 deductible for families, but insurance only covers 80% of the cost beyond the deductible limit.) Taking into account the county's contributions toward the deductible — $2,800 for individuals and $5,600 for families — employees' maximum out-of-pocket costs would come to $3,200 for individuals or $6,400 for families.

The co-pay plan would see a deductible increase of about $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families.

Deductible limits double for those who utilize services out of the insurance company's network.

The new proposal will cost $147,393.46 in 2024, saving the county about $46,000 as compared to renewing at a 4% increase with Physicians Health Plan. (Other health insurance companies, Anthem and United Health Care, offered fully insured options at 2% and 7% increases, respectively.) Commissioners plan to use some of that savings to contribute to employee HSAs.

Commissioner Rex Journay pointed out he has had an HSA for years and still maintains it, despite retiring five years ago. Clayton noted an HSA sticks with a person for their lifetime.

Answering a question from commissioner Brian McGalliard, Clayton noted approximately 90% of claimants don't meet their deductibles.

"So, who is this good for? It's good for the folks that are blowing through it, or maybe aren't currently using their plan at all," she said.

Regardless of the county's decision, Clayton suggested the company host several informational meetings for employees to learn more about their new coverage option.

McGalliard noted the higher deductibles but pointed to the county's HSA contributions, adding that it would help to offset the increase.

"If they can understand that they get a tax break on every dollar that they put in there, when you think about it, that means (something)," said Journay.

Aker noted employees have expressed dislike with the county's insurance options over the years. He said some have cited that has the reason for leaving their job.

"It's no secret that, a lot of times we lose employees, it's because of insurance," he said. "If we can do something to give back to the employee, as an incentive to keep them here, I'm all for it."