MANSFIELD — A single $3,095,336 medical claim paid to Akron Children’s Hospital amounted for 69 percent of Richland County’s total in-patient hospital payments in 2018, according to a senior benefit specialist for the County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio.
Wendy Dillingham reported the year-end numbers during a county commissioners meeting on Tuesday morning.
The large claim drove up per member, per month costs up 98 percent in 2018 over 2017, according to Dillingham. It was $704.18 per month in 2018, compared to $443.32 in 2017, she said.
Richland County is one of 35 counties in CEBCO in 2019. The consortium began as six counties in 2004 as Ohio counties struggled with unpredictable rate increases in health insurance. Anthem is the county’s insurance carrier.
Richland County joined the consortium a couple of years ago, which has stabilized the county’s insurance costs at around $3.6 million annually.
“We are self-insured,” Commissioner Tony Vero said. “We are just in a larger pool.
“If you include the jail, which is a general fund expense, we will have over $4 million in health care costs alone in 2018 on a $33 million budget,” Commissioner Tony Vero said.
That total amounts to about 12 percent of the total county budget. County employees actually saw a 0.4 percent decrease in health insurance premiums for 2019.
The county had 1,139 people, including spouses and children, on its insurance plan in 2018, down 3.7 percent from 2017. That skews almost evenly male and female and the average age is around 35.
The No. 1 medical issue facing those on the county’s insurance was Type 2 diabetes, which develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin.
Exactly why this happens is unknown, although genetics and environmental factors, such as being overweight and inactive, seem to be contributing factors.
Almost one in five medical claims from those on the county plan was for diabetes, up 2 percent over 2017. The per patient, per month cost for diabetes jumped 36.3 percent year over year.
Also on Thursday, commissioners learned the Richland County Bar Association is recommending increases in per-hour rates paid to local defense attorneys in cases for which indigent defendants needed a lawyer.
Vero said the court-appointed attorneys’ fees in capital cases are increasing and that the state sets those rates. In other cases, he said, the state makes a recommendation to counties and then sets maximum per-hour rates.
He said those rates in Richland County are currently $50 an hour for work done out of the courtroom and $60 per hour for work inside the courtroom.
“While the county is a good financial position as a whole … we have a break-even budget,” Vero said. “I don’t know how we can afford it. That’s the issue.”
Vero said Richland County Probate Court Judge Philip Mayer asked to speak with commissioners about the proposed increases. Vero said he would also like commissioners to hear from the local bar association before making final decisions.
Vero said the State of Ohio only pays 42 percent of the costs for court-appointed attorneys.
“It’s the state’s responsibility,” he said. “They should bear 100 percent of the costs.”
