Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
PEB may be new provider for county employees
DAVENPORT—The county commissioners are faced with the dilemma of how to provide their employees medical insurance amidst rising costs and the financial unfeasibility of continuing the self-funded program that has been in place for 12 years. A decision will be made soon, as budget season is right around the corner and the new program must be in place by Jan. 1.
After deciding the self-funded program was too expensive, the commissioners received medical quotes from Premera and appeared to be leaning that direction. However, they were turned away by fluctuating quotes and plan costs that would’ve been far too expensive for an employee hoping to put their spouse or family on their medical insurance plan.
That’s when the commissioners began to consider a medical plan through Public Employees Benefits (PEB), a state insurance program, commissioner Rob Coffman said.
The commissioners proposed a plan through PEB to the county’s two bargaining units, Teamsters Local 690 (representing the Sheriff’s Office) and Local 1254 and 1254 CH Union (representing Public Works) at the commissioner’s meeting Monday, Oct. 17.
“We’re talking about adding a dependent portion, which is some $230,000 a year,” Coffman said. “If we can do that, I hope we can do that and make it sustainable into the future, but we really have no choice. If we don’t do something for the dependents, we’re going to start losing people and we’re not going to be able to recruit anybody either.”
Currently, the county pays $820 a month to cover an employee through the self-funded program, but the employee eats the $478 a month to cover their spouse, $274 for a child and $752 for their whole family.
“The premium for a family is $1,572,” Coffman said. “The employee pays $752. Under the PEB plan, the rate for the family is virtually $2,100, so that’s a huge jump in the premium to cover a family.”
Coffman then told the bargaining units the county is proposing lowering employee monthly costs and having the county eat the rest of the costs. The proposed costs would lower spouse costs from $478 to $278, child rates from $274 to $174 and family rates from $752 to $552.
“The county would be responsible for $1,265 for the spouse, $1,185 for the child and $1,543 for the family,” Coffman said. “That is for the middle-of-the-road PEB plan with a $750 deductible.”
The county’s current medical plan has a $500 deductible.
“There’s a lower deductible plan of $250,” Coffman said. “They could go to that plan and pay a little bit more out of pocket.”
Taj Wilkerson of Teamsters 690 said county deputies voted to move to the Teamsters medical plan, but said he was still working with jail/dispatch deputies for their opinions. Coffman said the county didn’t believe that would affect the rest of the county if they switched to PEB.
Another advantage of PEB versus Premera was that PEB calculates rate adjustments based off every group they serve statewide aside from schoolteachers, whereas Premera would adjust based simply off county claims, Coffman explained.
“There’s a lot more stability with PEB as far as claims go,” Coffman said.
One hiccup with switching to PEB is that they don’t offer medical insurance to retirees for elected officials only, which the county learned in a presentation by PEB Tuesday, Oct. 18.
“We’re going to have to figure that one out,” Coffman said.
The commissioners don’t have much time to figure it out, as PEB needs a 60-day notice to begin a county plan, which is Nov. 2. Coffman said the commissioners will likely hold a special meeting soon to share their final decisions and the plan for employee medical insurance.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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