FAYETTEVILLE — The taxpayer cost to pay for the health care of Washington County’s employees and their families could increase by 49 percent in 2014, after a tentative approval Monday night.
The county’s self-funded plan pays more in health care claims than it receives in revenue from premiums paid by the county and also paid by employees and some retired staff, said Nelson Driver, the county’s insurance consultant. The county currently loses in excess of $40,000 per month because of the offset, Driver said.
“We’ve had more large claims this year than we have in the past,” Driver said.
The county paid 12 claims exceeding $30,000 between October 2012 through the end of September, according to reports Driver submitted to the county’s Finance and Budget Committee on Monday.
Three of those claims exceeded $100,000 with the highest claim reaching $288,226, according to reports. A secondary insurance company covers any health care claim once the cost exceeds $175,000, Driver said.
Driver’s 2014 budget request totaled $4.2 million including $2.5 million in health claims, $815,000 in prescriptions and $172,500 in dental claims. The county budgeted $4.1 million in health costs for 2013.
The committee tentatively approved a proposal by Driver to increase the monthly payments made by the county per position. The Quorum Court will vote on a budget approval later this year.
The plan covers 615 positions, Driver said.
The county currently pays about $275 per employee per month and could increase that to about $411.
Combined, the increase would make the county pay $3 million annually for its share of health care compared to the current $2 million.
The county’s employees and some retired staff currently pay a combined $1.2 million into the county’s health insurance fund.
The Quorum Court approved in June 2012 increasing the amount employees pay by 5 percent, the maximum increase to keep the county grandfathered under the federal Patient and Affordable Care Act passed by Congress in 2010. The county avoids other premium increases by staying grandfathered, Driver has said.
Justices of the peace also made a $500,000 infusion payment from reserve into the health fund last year.
Driver’s $4.2 million budget request is based on employee claims from the past three to five years, he said.
“We’re going to have to do this one way or the other,” Justice of the Peace Candy Clark, committee chairwoman, said. “This does not mean we will not see Nelson again if something catastrophic happens to our employees, which I sincerely hope it does not, because we have to keep this thing solvent.”