Dawson County commissioners renew county health insurance after confusion in meeting

There was confusion in the board room on Friday, May 15, a Dawson County commissioners discussed the renewal of county health insurance.

Brett Shippee, of the Nebraska Rural Hospital Association health insurance, and Dan Schwartzkopf of the Jones Group both spoke on the matter.

Shippee proposed the board consider switching insurance providers from Midlands Choice to Nebraska Rural Hospital Association and contended that the three hospitals in the county (Lexington, Cozad and Gothenburg) were not covered by the county's current health insurance.

This statement sparked confusion from commissioners, who were under the impression that all three hospitals were covered under Midlands Choice.

Shippee said the Nebraska Rural Hospital Association would help hospitals lower health insurance costs so they could provide the best benefits they can as well as cover the three hospitals. However, the association would have to submit a data request to County Clerk Michaela Arndt, which was planned to be done following the commissioners meeting.

Commissioners told Shippee that they would be interested in learning more about Nebraska Rural Hospital Association's offerings, but that they were on a deadline to renew the county health insurance. They said they were concerned about overwhelming Arndt, who is working on election paperwork, so they were not looking for a new provider currently.

Arndt said she would look into whether Dawson County hospitals were covered by Midlands Choice. She later confirmed in an email that all three hospitals are covered

The commissioners asked Schwartzkopf, who was representing Jones Group and the county's current health insurance plan, to clarify if the hospitals were out of network.

Schwartzkopf said Dawson County has been contracted with Midlands Choice for 20 years, and he was "99% sure Lexington, Cozad and Gothenburg are still contracted through them."

Schwarzkopf recommended renewal of the county's health insurance plan with Midlands Choice, but "unbolting" from Partners Health Alliance, which was included in the plan.

He said Partners Health Alliance has not been honoring its agreement properly with Cozad.

Because of high claims this year, Schwartzkopf told commissioners to expect a higher rate increase than the usual 3%. He said rate increases are "trending at 10% nationwide" and "worst case scenario is 17%."

The board voted unanimously to renew the current health insurance plan with Midlands Choice while removing Partners Health Alliance.

Schwartzkopf was asked to hang around after the meeting to chat more about the current plan.

Haleigh Eschliman and Jeremy Eschliman of Two Rivers Public Health Department gave the board an update, saying they are gearing up for pool inspections and that the Helping Families program has a parking lot party coming up in June.

Last year, 150 people attended the free event geared toward families with young children, and they are hoping for an even bigger turnout this year. Helping Families is also getting more testing resources for pregnancies, gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia.

Jeremy Eschliman reported that a bat tested positive for rabies in Dawson County and that hantavirus is low risk to the public. Though this particular strain of hantavirus is known to be able to travel from person to person, Omaha has a quick turnaround for testing, and Two Rivers does not foresee it becoming high-risk for the public.

Two Rivers is also currently hosting drug take-back events and has applied for grants to install pollinator gardens and address nuisance properties.

In other business, the board:

Approved a $41,798 bid from Midway for a new 2026 pickup for the Road DepartmentApproved the interlocal agreement between Dawson and Gosper County for a weed superintendentHeard an update from Melanie Gomez of Sheltering Hands on their program; they spent $21,000 between January and March helping abuse survivorsApproved the public defender contract with Patrick Tarr

Prior to the commissioners' meeting, the Board of Equalization unanimously approved two correction requests made by the county assessor, Nic VanCura:

Dana Benson, which was previously presented and approved as a 2024 non-ag credit correctionTammy James, 2025

VanCura also proposed a valuation change for the Fox Theater property in Cozad for tax statements that were not generated for 2022-2024.

The current owners purchased the Fox Theater in 2025 and were not aware of these taxes. They said that if they were asked to pay them upfront, it would cause a financial struggle, and they might have to close one of their locations.

They asked the board to consider waiving the 2022-2024 taxes.

The board chose to table the matter until the June 1 meeting.