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Wagoner County approves most 2026 benefit plans; medical rate deferred for further negotiation
Summary
The county approved pass‑through renewals for dental, vision and life insurance and deferred a final decision on the medical renewal so staff can negotiate a lower rate with Blue Cross; commissioners discussed moving short‑term disability to voluntary to limit county exposure.
WAGONER COUNTY, Okla. — Wagoner County commissioners on Nov. 3 approved most employee benefit renewals for 2026 but delayed a final vote on the county—mployees—lue Cross medical plan so staff can negotiate a lower renewal rate.
Brandon Barty, benefits consultant with Buysen Benefits, told the board that initial Blue Cross proposals would have raised combined medical costs by roughly 14%, and that he had negotiated the proposal down to about 8.9% before an American Public Life (APL) add‑on produced an overall net increase of about 9.3% in the broker's estimate. Barty said dental, vision and life plans were offered at a rate pass, and VSP proposed an enhanced vision benefit with a four‑year guaranteed rate pause.
The county pproved the non‑medical benefits presented and directed Barty to continue negotiating with Blue Cross to lower the medical renewal; commissioners asked staff to return the medical plan for final action next week. "If they give us 5 percent, we'll just close the deal," Commissioner James said during deliberations.
Commissioners and staff also discussed short‑term disability. Barty said Mutual of Omaha's recommended employer‑paid rates reflected heavy recent claims and that converting short‑term disability to an employee voluntary product would remove roughly $13,500 in annual county premium exposure and reduce payroll‑tax reporting burdens for county staff. Laurie Hendricks, speaking about payroll reporting and tax entries, explained that moving a benefit to voluntary changes how payroll taxes are reported and could reduce manual entries.
Several commissioners expressed concern about shifting costs to employees. "If they don't elect the voluntary short term, what they would be exposed to is a loss of income if they were out on a disability claim," Barty said, describing that the plan pays 60% of salary after a 14‑day elimination period for up to 24 weeks.
The motion approved all presented benefits except the medical plan, which commissioners asked staff to negotiate further (Barty said he would seek a target near 7.3%) and present next week. No change to benefit design was approved for dental, vision or life plans at the Nov. 3 meeting.
