At the end of April the commissioners asked Human Resources Director Jim Davis and their consultant Angela Wolfe to “think outside the box” and come up with a solution to recurring rate hikes. Davis said the big problem is they seem to have one or two catastrophic claims every year for the past several — a $5 million single claim in 2013, for example — which skews the payout history.
“What’s driving the costs of the 137 percent? Are our people getting sicker or do they turn more stuff in than five other counties? Is there a measurement,” asked Commissioner T.C. Rogers. “Are our people fat? Or are they hypochondriacs or just dangerous or accident prone or what?”
The estimated 11.3 percent premium increase the county received last summer was nearly double the hit the county took in 2013, after the $5 million claim came in. Officials said claims are the driving force behind rate increases. From June 2013 through May 31, 2014, the county paid $14 million in premiums and the County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio (CEBCO) paid out $16.7 million for claims. Davis said last November was a $3 million claims month when the average is usually about $1 million.
The commissioners have made a deliberate decision to try to get spouses off their health plan, to try and reduce the rates. Davis said 20 employees have dropped the county’s plan altogether since the county shifted the percentage responsibility and added a $60 per month smoking premium. Davis said as of April, 162 people were paying extra to smoke.
Part of the plan to reduce costs was a big push for the new wellness program. Programs like this usually have about a 15 percent participation rate, but 40 to 42 percent of county employees have joined the effort to become more healthy. Wolfe said it typically takes a few years for a wellness push to effect premiums.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, who has been instrumental in the wellness program, got angry when Wolfe said they have received some data on their claims history and the types of claims the county has experienced, so they can do some targeted wellness efforts. She said those numbers are vital to the wellness effort and other information would also be helpful.
“We have put an incredible effort into our wellness program and battled to get data,” Carpenter said. “We were given old data that said these are your health issues. We have asked repeatedly our HR department to come up with a list that will help consumers to know where they can be shopping to lower the cost claims.”
Wolfe said they are coordinating a meeting with top brass from CEBCO and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield who provides the insurance, to work on solutions for the county.
Commissioner Don Dixon said with all the efforts employees have made, he is loathe to pass the extra cost along, again. He suggested they find a way to segregate the large claims, perhaps pay them out of pocket, so the whole claims history isn’t constantly skewed, causing the rate hikes.
“I’m not going to penalize our taxpayers and I’m not going to penalize our employees,” he said. “So now I’m saying Jim, if you can’t come back with something, you need to figure out a way that we can self insure, you need to figure out a way that we can join some other cooperative, some other way, some other fashion, this is our last year, we get out.”
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