Health insurance move results in big savings for Kane County

Coaxing employees into less expensive health insurance plans will net Kane County about $450,000 in savings, according to the latest calculations.

The county spent months seeking ways to offset what they expected to be double-digit health insurance cost increases. Negotiations kept that increase below expectations, but now the county has found a second win on the cost side in working directly with employees.

"At the beginning of this budget year we asked all our employees to physically come in for a meeting to review their insurance," County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay explained. "We had an opportunity to demonstrate to them what the different policies would offer them and how they could save money. Over 100 employees have chosen to take a less expensive insurance policy that saved, on average for the employees, more than $2,000 a year in their own insurance costs, and saved us as a county for this year about $450,000."

The actual numbers will see 111 employees move to a different program, including 66 people abandoning the more expensive PPO for an HMO. That works out to more than $200,000 that county employees will save on their health insurance this year. The actual estimated cost savings to the county as employer of $411,000 is twice as much as the county hoped to reap.

County board member Mark Davoust is the chairman of the committee that oversaw the process. It was the first year that every employee in the county was mandated to review their insurance coverage with the county's human resources department. Davoust said the undertaking was time intensive for county staff, but the savings the county will realize was well worth the effort.

"The fact that we saved almost half a million (dollars) is proof that it worked," Davoust said.