County Board tables decision on employee health insurance

The McLeod County Board of Commissioners had a lengthy discussion on whether to switch employee health insurance to another provider, and ended up tabling the issue until its May 17 meeting.
County Administrator Pat Melvin brought the matter forward at the board’s April 19 meeting, saying he wanted some direction before pursuing it more thoroughly with employees.
For the past several years, McLeod County has partnered with Sibley County to provide health insurance for employees in both counties.
Now, Prime West, which manages health care programs for a multi-county consortium, is considering expanding its service to include employee health insurance.
The problem, said Shelly Lange, a McLeod County employee, is that insurance premiums will be significantly higher for employees under the proposed Prime West (which will be called Prime Health for the insurance portion) plan.
Melvin said that while premiums are higher to start with, the hope is that the Prime Health plan will create a large enough consortium that, in the long run, counties will save money, as will employees.
Commissioner Sheldon Nies said the big issue is who will pay for the difference in premiums if the county chooses the Prime Health plan. If the county covers the increase for the employees, it could cost up to $190,000 for the county. Otherwise, the employees will be expected to pay the increased cost.

For more from the County Board meeting, see the April 27 print edition of The Chronicle.