MANSFIELD — Rising medical costs will translate into the Richland County Board of Commissioners paying about $300,000 more for county employee health insurance in 2025.
That was the message on Tuesday when commissioners met with Rachel Troyer, the county’s central purchasing coordinator, to discuss recent discussions with the County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio.
“When we were sitting through the meeting (with CEBCO), they were going through talking about what the increases would be,” Troyer said.
“There were counties that would see a 0-percent increase … all the way up to an 18-percent increase. My heart dropped.
“When I got the email and it said that our medical insurance would go up 5.7 percent, I was happy,” Troyer said.
CEBCO is a 48-county pooled health insurance the county joined in 2017, an organization Richland County has a contract with through 2025.
The 5.7 percent increase in 2025 comes on top of a 13 percent increase the county saw for 2024.
County employees will also see increases in their contributions to the premiums, though that number will vary based on collective-bargaining agreements and departments.
The county’s portion of the insurance benefits cost was about $3.8 million in 2022, a figure which rose to about $4.1 million in 2023. That will jump to about $4.8 million in 2024 and will likely be around $5.1 million in 2025, according to Commissioner Tony Vero.
That $1.3 million hike since 2022 is an increase of about 34 percent overall.
Troyer told commissioners three counties affiliated with CEBCO will see 18-percent increases next year.
Vero agreed it could be worse.
“Everyone’s benefits are going up across the country,” he said. “We’re actually one of the better ones, believe it or not, this year.
“Our costs are being increased. It’s the good and bad of being in a pool.
“The pool costs, as a whole, are driving our costs up. If you look at per-employee-per-month, then we’re better. There’s some built in costs and whatnot,” Vero said.
He said commissioners will look at options for beyond 2025.
“We’re in contract with CEBCO until the end of next year. I think from the beginning of 2025, maybe we’ll have some discussions.
“But again, in speaking to counterparts in the private and public sector, the health insurance premiums are going up everywhere,” Vero said.
Despite the rising costs, health insurance as a percentage of the overall county general fund has remained relatively flat between 10 and 12 percent, annually.
Vero said employee salaries and healthcare benefit costs account for 64 to 65 percent of the county’s general fund expenditures each year.
