South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Board Finance Committee met Sept. 3.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

I. CALL TO ORDER

PRESENT: Payne, Armour, Adden, Dragovich, Heuer, Kiel, Stayton, Schmidt, Duncan, Blank, Barr, Fritz, Sloan, Davis, Reiher

ABSENT:

II. AGENDA ITEMS

1. 2024-2025 Health/Dental Renewal Rates and Options Due to Increase After the meeting last week, there were two options that were zeroed in on. The renewal of the current plan which would be $947 a month per employee and a second option which would be $844 a month per employee. Both were an increase over the $805 per employee a month currently being paid. The $844 option did see the deductible increasing from $2,500 to $5,000, though the HRA would be increased so that employees would still only pay $500 and the rest would be covered by the county. Based off the math, that still looked to be a more cost effective model for the county compared to the increase of $947 but leaving the deductible at $2,500. There was also an increase in copays for office visits of $10, er visits of $100, and major diagnostics of $10. The pharmacy plan did have a change where instead of there being three tiers, there would now be six based on preferred and non-prederred pharmacies. Specialty drugs did have a significant increase from $60 to $150 for preferred and $250 to non-preferred. There was a list available from Blue Cross that the committee reviewed a few different medications and where they would fall in the new tiers. The representatives from the unions were asked for their opinion. Most of them seemed to favor sticking with the current plan and the higher premiums. There was a discussion about trying to move the renewal to January 1st instead of October 1st so it would line up more with the insurance marketplace for those trying to decide what to do with families, the HRA plan year, and reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act. To do so, the county could do a 15 month renewal though that require doublechecking with the underwriters on if the premiums would remain the same.

Motion by Stayton, seconded by Dragovich to recommend to the full Board going with the current plan renewal at $947 a month for a 15 month renewal.

RESULT: MOTION TO RECOMMEND [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Aaron Stayton, Member

SECONDER: Mark Dragovich, Member

AYES: Payne, Armour, Adden, Dragovich, Heuer, Kiel, Stayton

2. Discussion of Third Party Health Reimbursement Account Administration 

There was a discussion of the third party health reimbursement administration. The company we had been using had sold out to the a new company back in May and had given no notice of the change. The current company was not working with the counties needs. The checks were being sent to the employees directly which was great for the employees but was leading the possibility of checks bouncing as that fund needed money sent it from the health and highway departments as well as the general fund and if one was late getting their money in the fund, it would bounce. There was also a problem with the plan year for the HRA not lining up with the insurance year and that causing problems for some employees receiving their reimbursement for expenses occurring in October, November or December and BCBS showing them as counting towards the deductible in the following deductible year. Snodgrass said that there were options for the county to explore before the plan year starts in January 2025.

http://macoupincountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/calendar.aspx