A consultant for the county's employee health plan told the Vanderburgh County Council the county's initial analysis shows a self-funded plan could be materially less expensive than the fully insured renewal and includes protections for catastrophic claims.

Chris Maynard of Shepherd Insurance presented side-by-side figures comparing a UnitedHealthcare fully insured renewal to several self-funded options. "As you can see, it's significantly less, self funded than the fully insured renewal," Maynard said, while noting the figures were preliminary and final underwriter analysis was pending.

Maynard explained the key differences: under a self-funded arrangement the county would pay claims up to an aggregate stop-loss limit and purchase reinsurance for catastrophic claims; the county would also be able to capture drug-manufacturer rebates routed through the pharmacy benefit manager (estimated preliminarily at roughly $400,000 based on current utilization), which do not flow to the county under a fully insured plan. Maynard said the county's proposal would put a maximum financial liability in the plan documents and include rate caps on year-over-year premium increases.

Council members asked for the final underwriting numbers and the actual application documents; Maynard said the firm would provide definitive documents and that an implementation or plan change would take effect Jan. 1, 2026 if the county moves forward.

The presentation was informational; council members asked the broker to provide final underwriting results and plan contracts for review before any formal county action.