Warren County's Finance Committee voted to authorize renewal of the county's self-insured health, dental, vision and voluntary life insurance plans, approving a plan that draws $475,000 from the insurance reserve to reduce a proposed 11.8% increase to an 8% increase for the 2025'26 plan year.

The renewal recommendation followed a presentation by Matt, a benefits consultant from Marshall & Sterling, and questions from committee members, including Human Resources Director Jackie. Matt said the county moved to a self-insured model in 2017 and that the working group established then continues to review claims and cost-containment options.

The consultant told the committee that medical and prescription claims rose about 7.3% year over year before accounting for projected inflation and that the county has several high-cost claimants, the highest approaching $500,000 in paid claims; Warren County's reinsurance stops at $165,000 per claimant. He highlighted a sharp rise in weight-loss GLP-1 prescriptions: paid claims in that category rose about 71% (from roughly $600,000 to over $1 million) and now account for about 30% of total prescription spend.

Marshall & Sterling's analysis recommended using part of the county's reserve to lower the requested rate increase from 11.8% to 8%. Committee members were told the reserve was about $7.03 million at the last look; pulling $475,000 would reduce the reserve but was judged acceptable by the working group. The consultant said Warren County's single premium equivalent at the 8% recommendation would be about $948, lower than comparable community-market platinum plans cited at roughly $1,300 single.

On Medicare retiree coverage, the consultant recommended renewing the Anthem plan despite a 13.6% increase, saying Anthem's network and service had been satisfactory. On dental, he said dentists leaving networks created balance-billing problems for members; the working group recommended increasing the dental annual maximum from $1,500 to $2,000 and raising out-of-network usual, customary and reasonable (UCR) reimbursements to reduce member balances, acknowledging a rate increase would result.

Committee discussion included questions about reserve adequacy, long-term sustainability and the effect of national trends on health-care inflation. Supervisor comments noted the county's aging workforce and asked whether the county can sustain continued draws from reserves. The presenter and staff said ongoing working-group review, vendor changes and other cost-containment measures are the county's primary tools.

The committee approved the resolution to renew coverage, with a motion by Supervisor Bean and a second by Vice Chair Driscoll; the committee called the question and the motion carried with an aye vote and no recorded opposition.

The committee also directed that the recommendation move forward to the full Finance Committee and then to the board as required by the county's approval process.