NorCo Exec John Brown Health Plan Changes

NorCo Exec John Brown

Brown denied he has any desire to balance the budget on the backs of County employees.  He noted that if he wanted to do that, he could just stop providing health insurance directly. He'd take a $4 million penalty, and require employees to pay the going rate on employee healthcare exchanges. That would save $18 million per year.

His plan, which he described as a desire to impose "cost control" and "consumerism," would make the following changes:

• The annual deductible will double.
• The out-of-network deductible would increase by 1000%
• He will add a 10% co-insurance cost
• co-pay for ER care will double from $100 to $200
• He will institute a $30 co-pay for urgent care
• He will increase the employee payment for prescription drugs. 

Though he's attempting to avoid a $9.3 million excise tax on what may or may not be a Cadillac Plan, he explained his real goal is to lower health care costs, which have risen from $17.5 million in 2009 to $24.6 million this year.