Spencer County cuts county share of single health plan to 90% and bundles dental/vision

Spencer County Fiscal Court on Nov. 3 approved changes to the county employee benefits package intended to limit the county's exposure to major premium increases while preserving core benefits.

The county is facing a significant insurance-premium increase this year. After a committee presentation and floor debate, the court approved a motion to reduce the county contribution on single (employee-only) health plans from near 99% to 90%, leave the Pepco (employee benefit) card in place (but consider reducing its funding in future years), and switch dental and vision coverage to UnitedHealthcare and life-insurance coverage to OneAmerica.

"If you do that, what does it take out of that $110 credit?" one member asked during discussion about tradeoffs; the court eventually adopted the change by voice vote after an amendment to bundle dental/vision and to select OneAmerica for life insurance. The amended motion passed; the court recorded the motion as taking effect Jan. 1 to allow open-enrollment processing.

Members framed the change as a compromise to share premium increases between the county and employees: single-plan members will see a modest biweekly increase (roughly $44.90 biweekly estimated in the committee documents) while preserving broad coverage options. Court members also asked staff to offer open-enrollment materials and a short questionnaire so employees can indicate interest in flexible-spending options (FSA) or alternate plan choices.

Next steps: staff to implement the Jan. 1 coverage changes, provide open-enrollment instructions to employees, finalize the UnitedHealthcare and OneAmerica contracts, and return final cost numbers and enrollment impacts to the court before the effective date.