A number of large claims will mean a major spike in insurance premiums for Lowndes County, according to Ralph Billingsley, the county administrator.
Billingsley was on the agenda for Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to present a health insurance renewal proposal, which goes into effect Jan. 1.
The news was not good.
Billingsley said 300 employees are currently on the county’s insurance plan, with 10 more retirees still on the plan. While the employee portion of the premiums will remain at $37.16 per month for most employees, the amount of money the county contributes will rise dramatically. The county’s payments will go from $496.50 to $680.69 per employee per month. For the county’s 10 retired employees and 25 employees who have family coverage, their premiums will go up by approximately $200 per month. The county will not cover any of the increased costs for those policies.
“We had a situation in 2015 where we had some major claims,” Billingsley told the supervisors. “Last year, the insurance company estimated that our claims for 2015 would be roughly $1.4 million, but through 10 months, we’re a little closer $2.3 million and the year hasn’t ended yet. That’s roughly a $800,000 hit on claims and that means we’re going to see a significant rise in insurance premiums.”
District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said the rise in premiums should be a message to county employees.
“We hear a lot about pay raises, but when we see these kinds of increases in health insurance and the county pays all of the increase, that’s a de facto raise,” Brooks said. “I think what we also should emphasize is we want to send the message to our employees to be as healthy as possible. When our employees aren’t healthy, it means the insurance is going to continue to escalate. It’s always important to be healthy, but this is another consequence.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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