No Increases In Insurance Premiums Coming To Putnam Employees

The Putnam County Commission will absorb the seven percent increase in insurance premiums for participating county employees.

Mayor Randy Porter said the county will pay $70,000 but that cost was originally going to be $270,000.

“We were shocked when we first saw the 27 percent increase, but we saw that our claims increased so much in this past year and a lot of that was due to COVID,” Porter said. “Several employees had it and treatment and so fourth, but working with them, I have to say BlueCross did a great job.”

Porter said $70,000 is a small price to pay to retain good workers. Porter said departments have struggled with hiring new workers, and many current employees stay for the benefits.

“We want to keep the ones we have,” Porter said. “They’re our greatest asset in our county.”

Porter said insurance claims were up to $5.1 million for 2021. COVID accounted for $700,000 of that. Porter said if it was not for the pandemic, claims would have actually decreased compared to 2020.

Porter said the county will be paying $4.8 million dollars to cover county employees for 2022. Porter said a question to answer later on is if the county can continue to maintain its own plan and compete with the state’s insurance.

“If we have another bad year, it may be something to look at, but my opinion is we don’t do anything with it right now,” Porter said.

Porter said over 60 percent of employees participate in the best plan. A five percent increase on dental will not be covered by the county. Porter said no changes were made on vision coverage.