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Pratt County hears presentation on high-deductible health plan that would build reserves
Summary
An outside broker outlined a plan that shifts the county to a Blue Cross Blue Shield umbrella plus a local reserve account administered with a third-party administrator; commissioners asked about costs, risks and implementation but made no formal decision.
Pratt County commissioners heard a detailed pitch on a pair of high-deductible health insurance options Tuesday that would keep employees on Blue Cross Blue Shield networks while routing a portion of premium savings into a locally controlled reserve account.
The proposal, presented by Darren Booth of Teal Insurance and Freedom Claims, would move the county to an umbrella high-deductible plan and set up a reserve (a county-controlled account managed by the third-party administrator) to pay catastrophic claims. Booth said the model would generate roughly $20,000 a month into reserves under one option and estimated a maximum first-year reserve of about $321,700 if claims were unusually low. He said the plan’s breakeven analysis shows about 68 full claims events would exhaust the larger plan’s reserves and about 35 for the alternative plan.
Booth described two plan designs (called “plan A” and “plan B” in his presentation). Under both, employees would keep the same in-network benefits and prescription formulary; the change would be in the county’s premium payment structure and the addition of a county-held reserve. He said employees would carry two cards — Blue Cross first and a Freedom Claims card for the reserve process — and that the county could choose how to hold and administer reserve funds.
Commissioners and staff pressed Booth on practical details: how quickly reserves would accumulate, what would happen if reserves were spent down, and enrollment logistics including on-site education for employees. Commissioner Rick asked who would cover claims if reserves were depleted; Booth said that catastrophic costs beyond the reserve would become the county’s responsibility but that the proposed program aims to build funding to cover such risk over time. Heather (county staff) asked about timing for implementation; Booth said the vendor could begin the enrollment process if the county decided to proceed and estimated a multi-week onboarding window to coordinate with Blue Cross and to produce ID cards.
Booth said Freedom Claims would take a percentage of monthly savings as an administrative fee (he indicated an initial proposal around 14–15 percent that was negotiable), and that the percentage would be assessed only after claims payments for each month were calculated.
No formal vote was taken. Commissioners indicated they would review the materials, do due diligence with peer counties using the program and return with a decision at a later meeting.
Ending: Commissioners agreed to continue the conversation; staff and the broker will supply additional comparisons, references and enrollment timelines for a future meeting.
