Greene County Supervisors
Greene County Supervisors

The Greene County Board of Supervisors recently made a change in the county’s health insurance plan for next year.

At their regular meeting on Monday, the Supervisors voted unanimously to switch their provider from Cypress and Midland Network to Wellmark and Alliance Network, as well as their carrier to Kingston Life and Health. Board Chair John Muir explained, two major reasons for making the change is going with a lower increase in premium costs, along with building back up the county’s fund balances.

“We’re self-insured. So the employees are putting money into a fund from their paychecks to help pay some of the expenses of health insurance. Well in the last few years, the health insurance costs have neutralized or taking them backwards in comparison to the raises that they would get.”

By switching from Cypress to Wellmark, the County will have to pay a nine-percent increase in premium costs, compared to Cypress’s estimated 23-percent increase. Muir points out that there are three plans that will be offered. One is the standard union contracted plan of a $1,000/$2,000 deductible. Another plan is a $1,500/$3,000 deductible and the third plan includes a $2,700 Health Savings Account (HSA).

Vice-Chair Dawn Rudolph said it was important to include an HSA plan for employees who don’t utilize insurance as much, but who have other medical expenses that need to be paid for. The rates for the new plans range between a five to eight-percent increase to help raise the overall fund balance for the county from below $200,000 to above $500,000.

The Supervisors approved the switch based off the recommendation from a seven-person committee made up of county law enforcement, secondary roads department, courthouse departments and board of supervisor members.