County’s high medical claims in 2024 prompt 18% increase in insurance costs for 2025

YORK – York County’s high medical claims in 2024 resulted in an 18% increase in health insurance costs for 2025.

​The county commissioners agreed to stay with Medica as the county’s health insurance carrier. In the new year, they will be offering multiple coverage options for county employees, so they can choose the policies that are best for them.
Ben Royal from Cornerstone Insurance noted the county has been with Medica for several years now. Initially, Medica was proposing a 20% cost increase “as they were losing money on York County (due to the high number of claims) and that drives the cost. Other companies look at that history also. We got a few declinations from other companies. And it should be noted York County claims increased even further after we received the Medica proposal. Medica has been one of the most competitive in the market. Medica does a nice job. It’s unfortunate with the higher cost, but it was driven by claims. We did negotiate the increase down to 18%.”
“In the past, we had four people on the insurance committee,” said Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier. “This year, we included the members of the handbook committee and they then went back to their departments to talk about insurance options. This year, really only one plan showed itself, which was from Medica. We met as a committee three times and we had a lot of good conversation. One recommendation was that we have a family plan which more people can afford. So we looked at defining the county’s share and seeing how it affects the census.”
The county’s budget for employee health insurance is $1.15 million.
Commissioner Andy Bowman, who also sits on the insurance committee, said a focus was put on “where we are, with benefits, as we are competing for employees; we looked at how we rate. One thing that was hurting us, as far as the recruitment side, was our family policies. We brought a lot of those issues to the conversation and I felt really good about the process.”
“The goal was to make the family policy more attractive,” Obermier said. “The county has incurred a lot of cost over the past four years (as far as paying some of the employees’ deductibles). The consensus was heard to make the family policy better.”
“The committee has done a good job to make the numbers more attractive to employees and workable on the back end,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz.
It was noted that 14 employees’ insurance cost doesn’t come out of the $1.15 million budget figure – the 911 emergency communication center has its own figure as the cost is shared with the city; the juvenile diversion program is paid for with grant money; and the county’s visitors bureau is funded with county lodging tax receipts.
The commissioners approved Medica as the county health insurance provider. The various options have been presented to employees this week, as educational sessions are being held.