Orange County provides health insurance for its employees paying 100 percent of the coverage. Employees’ dependents can also be covered at the discretion of the employee, but the county only pays 40 percent of the cost.
The Commissioners Court held a workshop Wednesday to discuss increasing the county’s share of the coverage for health insurance for employees’ dependents. County Judge Dean Crooks recommended the workshop be done to determine the viability of the county paying more of dependent insurance coverage.
Crooks opened the workshop by expressing his concern for Orange County being able to retain its current employees and attracting new employees to come work for the county. Crooks believes the county picking up more of the cost for dependent health care would make it more competitive with other agencies and businesses to attract and retain good people to work. “It was my intention and is still my intention to look at the notion of whether or not we could eliminate those effects of higher insurance costs and be more competitive for getting good employees in,” Crooks commented.
Currently, 73 county employees excluding those with the Sheriff’s Office have dependent health insurance coverage through Orange County. Crooks is looking into the possibility of the county picking up 50 percent of the coverage for dependent health care. It would mean an increase of $64,629 to the county’s proposed budget next year.
The benefit to the employees with just one child who have dependent health care through the county is a 78 percent reduction in their cost if the county picks up 50 percent. Health insurance for all county employees is going up 8.3 percent which would mean those with their dependents covered would see an increase under the current split with the employees paying 60 percent.
All the Commissioners expressed various opinions on the benefits for employees and the cost to the county during the workshop on Wednesday. The Commissioners Court will make the final decision on dependent health insurance coverage when the budget process reaches a conclusion in the next few months.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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