Beaver County staff urges review of stop‑loss insurance, cites multimillion‑dollar savings

On Jan. 8, 2025, during a Beaver County Board of Commissioners work session, a county department head recommended the board review the county's stop‑loss medical insurance and consider increasing self‑funding for health claims, saying historical figures indicate substantial potential savings.

The presenter, identified in the meeting as the department head/Controller, said the county has tracked medical claims back to 2014 and has been asking since 2021 to review stop‑loss coverage. The presenter said that, based on the historical record, “if we would've just self funded and not bought stop loss, we would've saved the taxpayers $3,500,000” since 2014 and about $2,600,000 since 2021. The presenter added that the county's largest single stop‑loss payout was $423,000 in 2020 and that the largest payouts in the last two years were $280,000.

The presenter said the county has built reserves and cited a fund balance of about $3,000,000 that could cover higher individual claims. The presenter recommended raising the self‑insured retention (threshold) to levels discussed with the broker — naming $500,000, $600,000 and $800,000 as points of comparison — and said doing so could reduce annual stop‑loss premiums. The presenter also said the county could save roughly $600,000 a year by changing the current stop‑loss arrangement and asked the board to review the numbers: “I can't even ask you, please review this.”

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about whether the presenter meant all county insurance lines or specifically medical. One commissioner confirmed the discussion targeted medical stop‑loss coverage while noting other insurance types (property, casualty, workers' compensation) address different liability exposures. Another commissioner asked whether the county had explored the full range of alternatives and requested more competitive information about insurance and self‑funding options.

No formal motion or vote on insurance policy occurred at the meeting. The presentation was a staff recommendation and a request that the board direct staff or planners to provide comparative bids or further analysis; however, the transcript records only the presentation and questions, not a recorded directive or decision.

The department head said they had been compiling this analysis since 2014 and formally raising it with commissioners since 2021. The discussion closed with no recorded change to current stop‑loss coverage or immediate action taken; the item remained under consideration for future agenda or staff follow‑up.