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Committee approves proposed changes to employee health plans; premiums hold near flat
Summary
Human resources and insurance consultants proposed plan design changes that raise deductibles and ER copays but aim to limit premium increases; the committee approved the plan changes and directed enrollment communications to employees.
Human resources and outside insurance consultants presented proposed health plan design changes for 2026 and said the goal is to steer plan participants toward lower-cost, higher-quality providers while keeping insurance affordable.
For the PPO (general employee) plan, consultants proposed raising individual deductibles from $500 to $750 and family deductibles from $1,000 to $1,500, increasing out-of-pocket maximums by roughly 17%, lowering coinsurance to 90% at lowest-cost providers and 70% at higher tiers, and raising an emergency-room copay from $200 to $300. The consultants proposed increasing the specialty prescription cap to 10% up to a $250 cap.
For the high-deductible health plan (primarily sworn employees who do not pay premiums), the deductible increases would move individual deductibles to $2,400 and family to $6,000 (an increase from $4,800). The HDHP proposal adds a $10 Teladoc copay (allowed under recent regulation changes) and matches the specialty prescription cap changes.
Consultants said the combined effect of plan-design changes and network discounts allows the county to limit PPO premium increases to about 1% for 2026; Delta Dental premiums are expected to rise about 6%, while vision premiums remain unchanged.
Supervisors approved the insurance proposals and HR said changes and open-enrollment materials will be provided to employees after the plan is finalized.
