Members of the Knox County Board voted to approve a consolidated insurance plan policy for all county employees last night.
Under the new plan, employees of the county will all be included on a single plan, paying the same deductible rate of $1500.
Finance Committee Chairman Greg Bacon says the move to one plan was necessary in order provide individuals with funds for medical expenses, similar to that of an HSA savings account.
Bacon tells WGIL the move is due to a recent trend in positive claim numbers and overall county health.
“We’ve have three good years of no catastrophic claims,” says Bacon. “This is going back to how we started a wellness program. We pay for blood-draws–we don’t know the results, but the employees get to know if there is something wrong. We’ve also kept a good healthy people. Our insurance rates have lowered to the tune of about $200,000. We’re going to save some money, and we’re going to give part of that money back.”
Bacon says the HSA card employees will receive under the new program, grants them $750 to use for expenses. He says the county chose this option instead of lowering premiums in order to avoid what he calls “the rubber band effect”–where cost would fluctuate by year to year.