Commissioners discuss health insurance and Community Crossings grant eligibility
- Nathaniel Smith | Editor-in-Chief
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
The July 7 Washington County Commissioners Meeting saw the commissioners tackling topics such as Community Crossings grant eligibility and health insurance renewal. The meeting began with the approval of the agenda as well as an amendment to add Deni Stempowski, Emergency Management Director, to the agenda to speak about emergency mitigation. Following this, Rhonda Greene approached the stand to utilize her public comment time.
Greene handed out a pocket with a written statement as well as agenda and member term documents for the Washington County Plan Commission. She states the commission “has not posted their notice legally” in regard to the meeting scheduled to take place tonight, July 7, at 6:30 pm. Her written statement, which she read verbatim, is included as an image below along with the other documents she provided to us. If you are viewing this on a computer, click the images to enlarge them for easier readability.
Following Greene’s comments, the meeting shifted to the approval of the June 16 meeting minutes. Commissioners Todd Ewen and Phillip Marshall approved the minutes, and Commissioner Tony Cardwell opposed them. They then unanimously approved claims and payroll.
Zack Richards from Knapp Miller Brown Insurance Services was then invited forward to give an update on the county’s health insurance renewal.
“I'm here to discuss the medical insurance renewal,” said Richards. “It is currently through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. I received a renewal report and a couple things just really popped out other than just the proposed renewal rate increase of 43.13%. Regarding premiums paid, the renewal report showed 1,337,836. Total claims paid in that same period is 1,829,819. We're talking about paying in: 1.3. Total claims paid: 1.8. It's definitely a tough increase. I've already started bidding this out with UnitedHealthcare and Angle Health, who use the Cigna network. [Also] Arlo and SIHO in Columbus. With Angle and Arlo, those are long shots due to the fact that they underwrite the group and you'd have to qualify as a whole for them to get approved on those plans. SIHO does offer a fully insured plan through a combination of regional networks. The SIHO Care Plus provider network and the Encore provider network, which would allow us to have access to a lot of your hospitals like UofL, Baptist and Norton. Schneck is their big one, which we have access to. Two other carriers I have quoted in the past are Nationwide– it used to be Allstate or National General– and Optimyl. They're out on offering to municipalities.
“Unless something wild happens with Angle and Arlo giving us an approved quote, it really leaves it down to two main carriers. Unless SIHO can come through. Last year, I came back and said they could not get the anthem rates when I tried going through them on the fully insured space. And just to give you an idea, fully insured means they have to accept the group. The rates are the rates, but they can't turn you away. Some of these other options I rattled off like Angle, Arlo, Nationwide Benefits and Optimyl, those are level funded. They have the opportunity to underwrite you and see if they want to even have you as a group, and that all comes down to the health of the group.”
Richards then explained that the last plan year, the county had four high-cost claimants. This year, it jumped to eighteen. The total claims amounted to $1.8 million, with $1.42 million coming from the 18 high-cost claimants. He described it as a “bad health year for the county.”
He added that bid requests have been sent to all of the previously mentioned insurance companies, and that he is doing his best to “throw these rocks around to try to find the best option for you guys.”
Following Zack Richards’ updates, Emergency Management Director Deni Stempowski came forward to discuss a county mitigation plan. The plan needed to be adopted by the commissioners in order to receive the final amount ($4,000) from a $28,000 reimbursement from the State of Indiana. The commissioners voted to adopt the mitigation plan unanimously. We are working to acquire specifics as to what the plan entails.
Highway Superintendent Rick Voyles then stepped forward to provide updates from the highway department. He stated that rumours of road salt suppliers having trouble filling their orders will not affect Washington County. He added that our county’s salt supply is currently full, with an extra one hundred tons sitting “at the BOT because we didn’t have anywhere to put it.”
He then pivoted to the gas tax.
“There's a three month suspension on the gas tax. So far, the gas tax accounts for approximately 50% of our MBH and local road and street funds. Over the three month period that will affect our MBH fund and reduce the balance by $450,000. Local roads and streets will be reduced by $75,000. Governor Brown has agreed to reimburse the lost gas tax revenue by no later than November. The only real effect on us will be that our fund balance will take a significant dip, but by the end of the year, we should end up right back where we should be if everything goes as it's supposed to go.”
Next, he discussed an update regarding the Community Crossings grant.
“The call for projects for Community Crossings will begin September 1, 2026. We expect to be fully ready for that and make our submission. There is a reminder that if you receive the limited lane mile distribution funds, you will not be eligible for the full $1 million. You will be eligible for the $1 million minus whatever you received in the limited lane mile distribution. But Washington County did not receive any of that. So, we are eligible for the full $1 million.”
Then, Commissioner Cardwell invited Fair Board President Tom Day forward since he was in attendance. After stating that the fair went smoothly this year accompanied by great weather, he inquired about “the status of the mobile home up there and the deck.” Cardwell said, “it’s in the process of being taken care of… it probably shouldn’t be discussed in an open meeting.”
“If everybody keeps their word like they should, it'll be soon,” added Commissioner Todd Ewen.
Further information on this is not yet available.
Commissioner Ewen later asked Election Administrator and Clerk of Courts Stephanie Rockey if she knows when Hardinsburg plans to have their elections. Rocky was unsure, but she did state they can be on Washington County’s election cycle instead of the City of Salem’s cycle. A few moments later, Commissioner Cardwell stated they plan to be on the city’s election cycle, which will be next year (2027).
After a few moments of further discussion, the commissioners voted to adjourn the meeting.
