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Kane County committee keeps 2026 health and dental contributions flat, reauthorizes Blue Cross and Cigna
Summary
The Kane County Human Services Committee voted to continue Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna as the county's group health and dental carriers for 2026 and approved keeping employee and county contribution rates flat, citing reserve levels and budget pressures.
The Kane County Human Services Committee voted unanimously to continue Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna as the county's group health and dental providers for 2026 and to keep the monthly contribution rates for employees and the county unchanged.
Committee members and county staff said the decision was driven by the county's current reserve position and broader county budget considerations. Jamie Juby, a human resources staff member, told the committee the health insurance reserve is "at the top of where it needs to be," with the county's target range described as 25% to 50% of annual spend and the fund currently "just over $9,000,000." Juby said the county has added $241,000 to the reserve so far this fiscal year.
Juby and other staff also presented projections from the county's health broker estimating roughly even results this year and an industry-forecasted health-cost increase of about 6% next year, which county staff said would amount to roughly $2 million if fully realized. "We are proposing to keep rates flat," Juby said, arguing that using reserves to smooth rates would avoid imposing additional budgetary pressure on the general fund.
County staff described the health and dental plan as a fully self-insured fund that pays an administrative per-employee fee to Blue Cross to administer benefits. At the meeting staff stated contribution shares as an 83/17 split (county/employee) during the presentation and then acknowledged that figure was misstated and not finalized in the record.
The committee's motion to continue Blue Cross and Cigna was moved by County Board Member Garcia and seconded by County Board Member Roth; the motion carried by unanimous roll-call vote of members present. A separate motion to approve the 2026 monthly contribution rates was moved by Garcia and seconded by Tarver and also passed unanimously.
Staff said the rate resolution will be routed to the Finance Committee as part of the county's budget process and that open-enrollment preparations require the carrier and rate decisions to be made before year-end. The committee recorded no dissenting vote on the actions taken.
