Lee County supervisors approve renewal of employee health insurance

The Lee County Board of Supervisors voted March 26 to renew the Local Choice health insurance plan for county employees for the 2025–26 fiscal year.

A board supervisor (identified in the transcript as Speaker 2) told the board the county contacted a vendor that handles large groups and was told the vendor could "probably save us a few dollars, a person, but the coverage would be about half of what we've got right now. It would basically double the deductible," though no written proposal from that vendor was presented to the board. "I did make a call to a company that I knew that handled large groups in Roanoke and talked to them there about our insurance plan," the supervisor said.

The supervisor said, based on that verbal review and the county's current terms, the vendor recommended staying with the existing plan despite a cited 12% increase in cost. "...even with the 12% increase that we were experiencing, it was a real good deal," the supervisor said.

Another board supervisor (identified in the transcript as Speaker 3) moved to approve renewing the Local Choice health insurance program for the 2025–26 fiscal year; the motion was seconded by a board supervisor (identified in the transcript as Speaker 1) and carried.

The board did not receive a written bid from the outside vendor during the meeting, and no dollar amount for the renewal or specific plan changes were presented on the record.

The renewal vote followed a short discussion and passed by voice vote.