Alan Mauldin
MOULTRIE — Colquitt County Commission blunted the edge of a health insurance hike to some employees Monday, giving a break on coverage to single parents with one child and couples with no children.
After voting in December to increase family coverage to $300 per month, which applied to all but single employees, commissioners agreed during a Monday morning meeting to set premiums for an employee and one child at $175 per month. Premiums for an employee and spouse were set at $225 per month.
The vote on the change was unanimous, with Commissioner Billy Herndon absent from the meeting.
The insurance premiums approved amount to: An $18.46 deduction per pay period for single employees, $80.77 per pay period for an employee and child, $103.85 for an employee and spouse, and $138.46 for an employee spouse and one or more children or an employee with two or more children.
In December, commissioners addressed the premium and other insurance changes, voting then to begin deducting $40 per month from the paychecks of single employees, who had not paid any premium up to that point. Initially the deduction for all non-single employees was set to increase from $172 per month to $300.
Commissioner Johnny Hardin, who sits on the county’s Health Insurance Committee with Commissioner Ray Saunders, said that he asked County Administrator Marion Hay to examine the issue after the vote was taken in December.
“I thought a lot of employees didn’t have children on their coverage, and it would just be an employee and spouse,” Hardin said during a telephone interview Monday. “We also had a number that were divorced and had children. They came in today and gave us some options.”
The other options considered included a $200 per month deduction for an employee either with one child or a spouse. The third option called for a $150 per month premium for an employee and one child, and $200 for an employee and spouse.
The savings to the county on premiums, based on the proposal passed in December, were estimated at about $440,000. The changes decreased the amount of savings by an estimated $45,900.
Employees will see the changes on the first paycheck of the new year.
The changes in health insurance premiums and deductibles were recommended in December by Taylor Benefit Resource, a Thomasville company which reviewed the county’s health insurance premiums and benefits.
The recommended changes, not counting the premium increases, would result in $242,561 in health care savings for the county, according to the company. That includes estimated savings of $57,600 by increasing the in-network deductible from $250 to $500 and the out-of-network deductible from $500 to $1,000 and savings of $35,500 generated by charging a $250 co-pay on in-patient hospital stays.
Hardin said that implementing the proposals should help the county reign in health insurance spending.
“Hopefully, with the changes we’ve made in that, it should make a big difference and get our claims down some,” he said. “With the changes we can make and keep some of the folks out of the emergency room like we’ve been talking about, hopefully our premiums will come down.”
Commissioner Luke Strong said that commissioners wanted to give some employees a break.
“I thought that was good for the employees,” he said.
