MANSFIELD — Health insurance costs for Richland County employees will not change in 2020.
The three county commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to keep employee costs the same.
With the county anticipating about a 1.2 percent ($100,000) decrease next year, that means the percentage borne by county workers will increase slightly in 2020, according to Commissioner Marilyn John.
John met with county Human Resources Director Kelly Cicolani on Monday to go over the rates before making the recommendation to fellow commissioners Tony Vero and Darrell Banks.
“When there have been years there have been bigger (premium) increases, the employee does not get the same increase,” John said in explaining the decision to keep the dollar contributions the same despite the overall rate decrease in 2020.
“It’s not a huge increase, but it’s an increase in the percentage,” John said.
Richland County is part of the 36-county group known as the County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio (CEBCO).
Commissioners also on Tuesday:
— Voted to keep the county employee vision insurance plan with Anthem Blue View Vision. Rachel Troyer, the county’s central services coordinator, told commissioners she had compared Anthem’s plan with others. She said Anthem, which will cost participating employees $7.73 per month in 2020, is slightly more expensive, but has many more participating local vision care providers than other plans.
— Voted to allow employees to participate in a flexible spending debit card program in 2020. Employees using the cards will be able to make allowable purchases using the card, which will deduct directly from their flexible spending account. This will eliminate the need for employees to pay upfront and then submit bills for reimbursement. Troyer said the “smart” debit cards discern which purchases are allowable and which are not.
