Citing a difficult budget and rising health care costs, the Crawford County Commission Friday approved a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas.
The contract included, for the first time, different options for employees. County Counselor Jim Emerson said that the county could not afford to fund insurance in full, but they wanted to provide options for employees.
“Through the budget cycle, we realized that we could not fund insurance like we were,” Emerson said.
Through 2009, the county was offering employees insurance that had deductibles of $500/$1,000 at no charge to employees. However, Emerson said that was no longer an option with the county facing budget issues for 2010.
In addition, the county’s expected claims were estimated at $2.8 million, which is an increase, although Emerson was not sure just how much of an increase it would be from 2009.
Now employees have three separate deductible options they can choose from, with two of those options requiring employees to pay part of the cost.
Commissioners said that giving the employees an option has been well-received.
“It gives them a choice to pick which is best for them,” said Commissioner Ralph McGeorge.
Open enrollment began on Thursday for county employees and County Clerk Don Pyle said that approximately 300 of the up to 350 eligible county employees attended initial meetings.
“We tried to make it where it was budget-neutral and pass it back to the employees,” Emerson said.
In other business:
• Commissioners announced that portions of Country Club Road (520th Rd.), would be closed from Nov. 10-12 for a railroad crossing repair to be done by Burlington Northern.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140.
GIRARD —
