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County Administrator: health-insurance costs trending favorably but GLP-1 restrictions saved roughly $300,000
Summary
Newaygo County’s administrator reported health-insurance metrics are improving—an 85.4% loss ratio and total 2024 claims just under $3 million—and that restricting GLP-1 prescriptions produced roughly $300,000 in pharmacy savings.
Newaygo County’s administrator reported that the county’s health-insurance program is currently showing improvement in key metrics but that staff will continue to monitor costs and may propose targeted adjustments to preserve a “no-cost” plan for employees.
The administrator told the board the county’s loss ratio is about 85.4 percent and that total medical and prescription claims for plan year 2024 were “just below $3,000,000.” To curb pharmacy costs the county restricted access to GLP-1 medications (drugs increasingly used for weight loss though approved for diabetes treatment), which the administrator said reduced pharmacy costs by about $300,000 and reflected 81 prescriptions that had been filled under the GLP-1 classification.
Mental-health and cardiac conditions, arthritic conditions and obesity-related diagnoses appeared in the administrator’s top claims categories. The administrator said pharmacy generic utilization rose to about 90 percent and that average prescription cost declined from about $19 in 2023 to $11 in 2024.
The administrator emphasized there is no current plan to shift costs to employees. “I’ll say it today, there is no intention to balance any sort of budget on the backs of employees,” the administrator said, while also warning that an externally imposed state cap on employer contributions could force cost-shifting if the county’s experience exceeded the cap by large margins.
Why it matters: health-insurance cost trends affect county operating budgets and employee take-home pay; limiting certain pharmacy coverage produced significant short-term savings but could have implications for clinical care and employee access.
Next steps: the administrator said staff will continue meeting with their insurance consultant (Gallagher), monitor experience-based rates, and bring targeted plan adjustments to the committee if needed. No board vote was recorded on benefit changes at the meeting.
