Williamson County workers to face increases in health insurance costs

Austin American-Statesman (TX)

June 20--GEORGETOWN -- Williamson County and its employees will be paying more for health care coverage starting in 2018.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved paying $804,000 extra next year to help cover the increased cost of health insurance for county employees. Employees also will face monthly increases in the amount they will pay, ranging from $20 to $105, based on what plan they use and how many people in their family are covered.

There also will be increases for employees in co-pays for prescriptions and visits to specialists.

The county has 1,863 employees and retirees on its health insurance plans.

The price of health care has gone up, said Tara Raymore, the county's director of human resources. She said when the county reviews the top 10 highest health claims for any year, many of them are from spouses of employees. She said she couldn't comment on the claims because of medical privacy laws.

The county will lose half a million dollars on its insurance plan this year, Raymore said. The increased contributions by the county and by employees in 2018 will erase that deficit and help the county build up a reserve of about $400,000, she said.

The county will increase the monthly amount it pays for employee health insurance from $710 to $745.50 per employee.

"This is a big deal for us to try to figure out," Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis said. "How much do you put back on employees and how much do you put back on the county? The county is putting forth a lot."

County employees who are on a plan offered through the county called the Seton Plan will see their monthly costs increase by $20 if they are just covering themselves. It will increase by $105 per month to cover a spouse and will rise by $20 to cover all children.

Workers on a more expensive premium plan the county offers, called the POS plan, will see some of their monthly costs decrease between $7.76 and $23.52 depending on how many family members they choose to cover.

The costs of the employee co-pay for a visit to a specialist will increase from $45 to $55 for all employees. Employees already have a 30 percent co-pay for their prescriptions but also will be asked to pay a minimum of $10 for a generic prescription and a minimum of $40 for a brand-name prescription next year.

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