Custer County votes to leave CTSI for workers' comp and moves health benefits to self-funded model

The Custer County Board of County Commissioners voted Wednesday to end the county’s participation in the Colorado County Technical Services Inc. (CTSI) health and workers’ compensation pools and to adopt new contracts and a partially self-funded benefits structure that county staff say will give the county more control over costs and services.

Board Chair Bill Candid said the change is intended to give county departments more hands-on support and to help control rising insurance costs. “Pinnacle is very active in coming out and spending time with each department,” Robert Smith, Custer County human resources director, said during the meeting. Smith said Pinnacle offers more active claim management, including an employee portal and onsite loss-control work, which county staff argued should reduce long-term claim costs.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the county’s CTSI renewal carried a roughly 8–9% hike and that alternative fully insured quotes were unaffordable. County staff and the broker argued a partially self-funded model — keeping unused funds in a county-controlled internal service account and buying reinsurance above a capped loss — would let the county retain savings and invest them in employee benefits and loss-prevention programs.

What the board approved: The board took multiple, related votes that move the county away from CTSI and toward a new set of vendors, all effective Jan. 1, 2026, unless otherwise noted: termination of CTSI coverage for workers’ compensation (effective 12/31/2025); acceptance of Pinnacle’s workers’ compensation quote; termination of CTSI county health-pool benefits (medical, dental, vision, life) and voluntary ancillary plans (effective 12/31/2025); acceptance of a captive-resources partial self-funding arrangement using Aetna as the medical network; acceptance of Delta Dental (Premier/expanded network) for dental; acceptance of Equitable for voluntary ancillary products (short- and long-term disability, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity); and adoption of an online Employee Navigator enrollment platform.

Cost and service tradeoffs: During discussion, Smith presented the bids and explained the tradeoffs. Pinnacle’s initial workers’ compensation quote was higher than CTSI’s renewal but offered a path to a state-approved cost-containment certification expected to reduce premiums after implementation and practice changes. Smith said the Pinnacle quote would initially raise the county’s workers’ comp cost but that targeted loss-control work and certification could lower total costs over time. On the medical side, staff told the board the chosen Aetna-based partially self-funded structure could save the county tens of thousands of dollars if claims remain near expected levels; staff estimated a potential annual savings range of about $48,000 up to $149,455 under modeled scenarios, with unused funds retained by the county in a restricted internal-service account.

Employee-facing continuity: Broker Brian Hillier and county staff said plan design (deductibles, copays, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximums) would remain substantially similar to current coverages so employees should see little change in network access and benefits. Staff said Delta Dental’s expanded network would include slightly more local dentists and that ancillary coverages would be expanded in some areas (for example, some procedures are covered under the recommended Delta plan that were not covered on the prior plan).

Board direction and next steps: Commissioners voted to terminate CTSI coverage effective Dec. 31, 2025, and to accept Pinnacle and the captive-resources/Aetna and Equitable/Delta proposals effective Jan. 1, 2026. Staff was authorized to complete contracting and enrollment setup with the new vendors. Smith and the broker said they would finalize paperwork, begin department-level loss-control work, and run the employee enrollment process through Employee Navigator.

Quotes: “Pinnacle is probably the largest carrier in the state for workers' comp,” Smith said, describing Pinnacle’s onsite services and employee claim portal. Broker Brian Hillier said the team vetted more than a dozen carriers and focused on competitive options; he noted the recommendations aim to preserve provider access while giving the county better claims transparency.

What the motions did not change: The board’s votes apply only to medical, dental, vision, life and voluntary ancillary programs and workers’ compensation. The county’s CTSI-based property, liability and other casualty coverages remain unchanged.

Implementation risks and oversight: Commissioners and staff flagged timing and data needs, including the need to complete enrollment, collect employee elections and finalize actuarial funding levels for the internal-service account before Jan. 1. Staff also committed to producing more claims data and to using targeted training and departmental safety work to reduce future claims.

Ending: County staff said they expect enrollment and vendor set-up paperwork to proceed in the coming weeks and to provide the board with follow-up reports on claims trends and the cost-containment certification progress in 2026.