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Jackson County approves Florida Blue renewal; board warns budget hit of roughly $500,000
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners voted to renew the county's fully insured health plan with Florida Blue under a different plan design after hearing that recent claims drove steep increases in renewal quotes.
Jackson County commissioners voted to renew the county's group health insurance with Florida Blue, moving employees to plan 51-90/91 after staff presented recent claims data showing unusually high costs.
The change was approved after Michael John Milton, the county's insurance consultant, told the board the plan had produced over a 100% medical loss ratio in the most recent 12-month lookback and that one small share of members were driving most costs. "You have 24 people that have $50,000 more paid in that period of time... 5% of the group is driving 60% of the claims at $2,900,000 paid," Milton said. He summarized renewal scenarios and said Florida Blue offered a 16% increase on the current plan or lower increases under alternative plan designs; the county committee recommended the 51-90/91 option.
The board was presented with direct cost impacts: switching to plan 51-90/91 would raise the county's contribution by about $511,000 based on an enrollment projection of about 352 employees, and would increase the typical family monthly premium paid by employees from $410.00 to $468.24 (a $58.24 monthly rise). Milton said Florida Blue also offered a 6.4% concession to the renewal, approximately $293,000, because of the county's long relationship with the carrier.
Commissioners asked for clarity on deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. Milton explained the deductible levels would remain the same but the employee out-of-pocket maximum would rise from $3,300 to $4,800 and family out-of-pocket maximums would change under the new plan's embedded versus non-embedded design. "The deductible will stay the same," he said. The board discussed whether to shift costs to employees but did not adopt that course at the meeting.
After discussion the board approved the renewal motion, and staff said ancillary voluntary benefits (dental, vision, voluntary life, voluntary LTD) would remain employee-paid as before. Milton also noted the telemedicine program the county pays for will increase from $11 to $11.55 per employee per month.
The board and staff agreed the increase will be built into upcoming budgets and asked administration to provide additional comparison data (state pay comparisons and positions funded through one-time revenue) ahead of budget finalization.
