Milwaukee County considers bigger health-insurance opt‑out payment and spousal surcharge to reduce budget gap

Milwaukee County human resources officials told the County Board's Committee on Personnel on June 10 that increasing the health-insurance opt‑out payment and adding a spousal surcharge could reduce county costs, but the size of any savings depends on how many employees change coverage.

The item was presented by Tony Mays, director of Total Rewards in the Department of Human Resources, who said the county currently pays $500 to employees who decline county coverage and that roughly 2.95'to 3.0 (about 300) employees have taken the opt‑out consistently since 2018. "We currently give $500 for a person that do not receive our benefits. Currently that equates to about a $150,000 a year that we pay for," Mays said. He also said the county pays roughly $15,800 per enrolled employee; multiplying that figure by the roughly 300 opt‑outs produces about $4.7 million in annual premiums the county does not pay for those employees.

Why it matters: County officials said the measures are being examined as…