No cost increase in county insurance through 2020

April 24-- Apr. 24--Insurance expenses for Vigo County in 2019-2020 are forecast to remain the same as last year.

"There were less severe claims [in 2018] but higher claim dollars. The initial increase was 24.6 percent, but we were able to negotiate through marketing the group through several carriers with a zero percent increase. The county will not see any increase in health insurance cost for this year," Jason B. Lester, vice president of sales at Sycamore Insurance Association, told commissioners Tuesday.

"I don't see the premiums changing at all for county employees" in 2019-2020, Lester said after the meeting.

While overall costs will not increase, some areas increased and other decreased or remained the same. One increase was in life insurance, which rose about $10,000 for the county.

The county is self-insured and is forecast to pay more than $6.6 million for insurance expenses this year. The county's insurance for 2019 is through UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus network. The county's insurance runs annually from July 1 to June 30.

"The county pays individual insurance claims for covered employees and purchases what is essentially an insurance policy on each covered individual with a $100,000 deductible. So the county pays the health claims up to $100,000 when the stop loss kicks in and the insurance company picks up from there," said Vigo County Auditor Jim Bramble.

The county last year had 442 employees on its insurance plan. That has increased to 461 employees for 2019, Lester said after the meeting.

An open enrollment for employees will be held in June and the county will stage a health fair in late September.

"We appreciate the work to help keep down the costs of health care," said Commissioner President Brad Anderson.

In other business, commissioners approved a contract with the Zionsville law firm Buchanan and Bruggenschmidt to seek to collect more than $3.3 million in unpaid property taxes. The county auditor sought the contract because many properties are held by large commercial banks which do not pay taxes in a timely fashion while waiting to move properties.

The collections would cover delinquent taxes in 671 properties, Bramble said after the meeting.

Under the agreement, the law firm would be paid 27 percent of any gross settlement for property taxes. If a collection were to go to trial, the law firm would collect 33 percent of any gross settlement or judgment ordered by a court.

"By [state] statute, the county has the right to try and collect the taxes that have accrued against the properties that have gone through the tax sale process," said County Attorney Michael Wright.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.

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