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Logan County Board approves
employee insurance plan with increased contribution by the county
[April 03, 2025]
On Wednesday, April 2nd, the Logan
County Board held a special regular board meeting at the Logan
County Courthouse. The meeting was scheduled to take place in the
newly renovated third floor courtroom starting at 6:00 p.m. The
elevators were down because of the storm that had occurred earlier
in the day. The meeting was instead moved to the first floor
courtroom.
Almost all members of the board were present for this meeting. In
attendance was Chairman JR Glenn, Kathy Schmidt, Michael DeRoss, Gil
Turner, Bob Sanders, Lance Conahan, Joseph Kuhlman, Keenan Leesman,
Dale Nelson, and Hannah Fitzpatrick. Jim Wessbecher was the only
member not in attendance.
As with the past two regular board meetings in March, one special
and one not, the issues being discussed by the board were those of
insurance for county employees, specifically those who are
non-union, as well as the Logan County Broadband project. The first
of the two issues discussed was insurance.
Logan County Jail Expansion
Project sidebar
Just before the insurance discussion started, however, Glenn
announced that Sanders had an update on the Logan County Jail
expansion project at the Logan County Safety Complex that has been
moving forward the last few months. Last month, Sheriff Landers told
the board that he was looking to hire a company for the eighteen
doors that are not functioning at the jail/safety complex. The
company seemed confident that taking apart the doors and cleaning
them would solve the issue, rather than the county having to pay to
replace those doors. The cost to clean the doors was $39,100,
compared to the cost of replacing the doors, which was about
$300,000-$540,000.
Sanders explained that after the cleaning had taken place, almost
all of the doors were operating again. For the doors that were still
not operating, replacement parts would be needed. The cost for these
replacement parts would be between $5,000 and $7,000.
Non-union employee Insurance
After Sanders’s update, Glenn then reminded the board of the two
insurance options they had before them, both from Blue Cross Blue
Shield (BCBS). The first option was to stick with the plan as it is
now. This would come with an increased cost of seventeen percent per
employee on the plan. The second option, often referred to as the
‘tier plan,’ would split in-network healthcare providers into two
tiers with an increase of about eight percent per employee on the
plan.
First tier healthcare providers would require those on the plan to
pay an out-of-pocket maximum of $1,500.
Second tier healthcare providers would require those on the plan to
pay an out-of-pocket maximum of $3,500, with a higher deductible as
well.
Many employees have been showing up to the meeting to address their
concern with this ‘tier plan,’ as the only second tier healthcare
provider would be Springfield Clinic, one that is used by many
county employees. Of these employees, Kelly Elias, the Logan County
Circuit Clerk, has been the most vocal.
Elias challenged the board considering the ‘tier plan.’ She stated
that this would be about a three hundred percent increase for
non-union employees using Springfield Clinic, not about eight
percent. She argued that the non-union employees are taking a hit
again. “We are discriminated against every single time this comes
up,” Elias said. She went on to state that this issue never affects
union employees because the non-union employees “carry their
burden.” Elias went on to address the difficulty of finding good
employees, and how they may leave if the insurance issue keeps
getting worse every year.
After Elias had her say, Glenn
responded. He assured Elias that they were both on the same side. He
stated that he “wants to find a way out of the quandary we are in.”
He stated that since the county has had a one hundred thirty percent
loss ratio, meaning that insurance providers are spending thirty
percent more on Logan County employees than they are making, no one
wants to offer the county a better offer. He also called the current
state of insurance “ridiculous” both inside and outside of Logan
County, but reiterated that the board does want the best for all
employees.
DeRoss then spoke, stating that he counted eighty-seven non-union
employees. In addition to deciding between two plans, the board has
also been discussing the idea of increasing their contribution
toward the cost of non-union employee health insurance. The amount
they currently contribute is $750 per month, per employee, and the
number the board has been largely favoring increasing it by so far
has been an additional $100 per month. DeRoss ran some numbers,
stating that this would be $8,700 for all of the employees, and
$60,900 for the seven months until their next renewal.
For context, at the previous two regular meetings from March, the
board discussed trying to get their current fiscal year, which ends
in December, on track with their insurance renewal date. Currently,
the county renews insurance for county employees in April. This
makes it very difficult to budget for insurance, as when the budget
is being worked on, the board has no idea how much insurance is
going to go up by, often leading them to have to over-budget for
potential increases. Nathan Whiteman of American Central Insurance (ACI),
the insurance brokerage firm used by the county, stated that BCBS
was okay with Logan County seeking to renew their insurance plan
early to put it on track with the budget. This was why DeRoss ran
numbers for a seven month period, rather than a full twelve month
year.
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Also, due to the
board’s having to over budget for insurance, the current amount
budgeted is $850,000. If going with the current plan at an
increase of seventeen percent, this would cost the county
approximately $750,000, so long as no new employees come onto
the plan or current employees leave the plan. With the ‘tier
plan,’ this would cost the county a lower amount, that being
about $709,000, again with no new additions or subtractions in
employees on the plan. This means that, with the current plan,
the county would have a windfall of about $100,000. With the
‘tier plan,’ that windfall would increase to about $141,000.
This is where the $60,900 DeRoss mentioned would come from.
One of the concerns that the board has had is union
negotiations. If the union negotiates a higher monthly
contribution by the county, this increase would need to come
from that $100,000-$141,000 as well. According to the board and
Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas, there is no telling what
that monthly contribution could be. If the board agrees to
contribute an amount to non-union employees, and then is
required to contribute an amount to union employees that, in
total, is higher than their windfall, they would be over budget.
It was revealed at this meeting, however, that union
negotiations would not be happening until 2026.
Thomas also revealed that the real
number of current non-union employees on health insurance that the
board would be responsible for contributing more to is actually only
thirty-nine. Many of the other employees that DeRoss counted earlier
were covered by budgets from their own departments when it comes to
monthly health insurance contributions. This would mean that, if the
county were to pay an additional $100 for insurance per month for
their current non-union employees, this would cost $46,800 for a
full twelve-month period, or $27,300 for a seven month period. This
set many of the board members at ease.
The board then ran numbers to see what the increase would be if they
increased their monthly contributions by $150, rather than $100. For
a seven-month period, that would cost $40,950. For a full
twelve-month period, that cost would be $70,200.
Nelson also suggested leaving ACI and trying to find a new insurance
brokerage company. He argued that ACI did not give the board all the
information on the plans they had before them. Nelson also stated
that their job is to get the county the best insurance plan
possible, and that he feels ACI had not done this. Glenn stepped in,
stating that while he is not shooting down Nelson’s idea, they also
only have about twenty days to find a new insurance plan before
their current one expires. Finding a new broker and then having that
broker find a new plan might be very difficult in such a short
amount of time. Nelson stated that he understood this but was just
voicing that the county does have this third option. Discussion on
this idea stopped here, potentially to be rediscussed once the
county has a new insurance plan.
Leesman then suggested going with the
‘tier plan’ and increasing their contribution. He argued that this
would be a more fiscally responsible idea, saving the county more in
the long run while also giving them time to try to find a new plan
or brokerage firm. Elias stated that they had been mostly discussing
renewing the current plan because the ‘tier plan’ was not a good
one. Conahan also made it known that he would only be in favor of
voting for the ‘tier plan’ if it was for six months or less.
After this, DeRoss decided to make a motion.
The motion was for the county to renew their current plan with
BCBS at a seventeen percent increase for seven months and also
increase the board’s current contribution to non-union employees by
$150 per month.
While non-union employees would still see an increase in the amount
they had to have deducted from their checks for insurance, this
increase would only be by about $23 per month. The board clarified
that what they would be renewing is a full twelve month contract,
with the contingency that they would seek early renewal later this
year. Whiteman did state that it was possible early renewal could
come at an even higher cost than the current renewal, but he also
stated it is also possible the cost could go down. Whiteman
additionally shared that BCBS is currently working on an additional
plan that he stated sounds pretty good, and that this new plan may
also be an option for them later in the year.
A vote was then taken, however Schmidt was not present for the vote.
She had to leave the meeting early, about fifteen minutes before the
vote was taken. The motion was passed in a vote of 8-1. Leesman was
the only “no” vote.
Glenn then stated that he would love to see the return of the
insurance committee. He is hoping that some people could volunteer
for that, and if it does come back, they could look into other plans
and other brokers.
The board then moved on to discuss the county broadband project.
Lincoln Daily News
will provide coverage of the broadband topic in the Saturday, April
5th edition.
[Matt Boutcher] |
