Kane Co. now turning to unions with help on insurance costs

Kane County will need the help of its union employees if it hopes to realize all options for health insurance savings.

The county has known all year that its health insurance costs would rise significantly in 2010. The county board's Human Services Committee hired an insurance broker with the hope of mitigating some of the increase. The broker successfully negotiated a savings with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois of about $400,000 by talking the insurance company down to a 9.7 percent rate increase from the original notice of a 13.1 percent increase.

But nearly $1 million in additional savings remains on the table. The county's insurance broker pitched a plan to eliminate the HMO Illinois plan offering and switch all those employees into the less expensive Blue Advantage version. The changes would also create some relatively minor increases to employee deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses for doctors visits and prescription drug co-pays.

The county will now inform its employee union groups of the potential changes to see if there is any wiggle room to get their assistance in creating a balanced 2010 budget.

Skyrocketing health insurance costs are one of the main reasons many county departments are falling short of making a 4.5 percent budget cut in 2010 that the county board requested. For instance, Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti pitched a budget plan that cuts another 3.5 percent of his expenses. But the actual savings of the cuts are wiped out by the increases health insurance costs in his department.

County board members were already trying to sell the insurance changes Wednesday.

"This equates to the county having a balanced budget," board member John Fahy said. "This equates to the county not having to do layoffs."