“Not as bad as I expected”
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Health insurance premiums for employees in Buena Vista County are expected to rise by 6%.
Board Chairman Paul Merten described the estimated increase presented by county insurance agents Stille, Pierce & Pertzborn on Tuesday as a bailout for the department head to budget a 10% increase. Prices have risen by 8% and 12% over the last two years.
“We were thinking of 10, and our agent came back in (6), I think you can call it good,” Merten said on Tuesday’s board of directors. I said later.
Mike Pertzborn, co-owner of Stille, Pierce & Pertzborn, told the board that the surge in prescription drug costs has fueled the increase. According to county updates, county pharmacy costs increased 16% to $ 660,000. That health claim increased by only 1.8%.
“It’s terrible and crazy,” Pertzborn said, especially about the increases caused by specialty medicines.
Updates show that the four claimants are paying 60% of the county’s drug tab. They were prescribed Enbrel Sureclick and Humirapen, which are commonly used for arthritis, and Betaceron, a drug for multiple sclerosis.
Coronavirus complications are not pushing up county costs, Pelzborn said. He said the federal government and regional hospitals have been paying for hospitalization since the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago.
“The discipline is where all costs are rising,” he said in an hour’s presentation. He told the board last year that the Affordable Care Act controls other segments of health insurance, leaving only prescription drugs.
“We’ve been working on this in five governments, but one of them hasn’t got it,” he said.
He considered the county’s rate to be relatively low because the county’s claims and employee demographics were more favorable compared to Wellmark’s other customers.
Marten said the county’s self-insurance fund, which will fund about half of the county’s health policy, will be submitted next month.
