FORT SCOTT — Bourbon County commissioners will hold a work session on employee health insurance at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, after a short 4:30 p.m. meeting. Renewing the county’s current Blue Cross Blue Shield plan would cost about 14.71% more, benefits broker Don Doherty told the commission Nov. 9. He said UnitedHealthcare’s renewal is about 11% higher, while two UnitedHealthcare high-deductible plans with health savings accounts came in about 4.95% and 6.78% below the current cost.

The county now puts $925 a month toward employee-only coverage and about $1,700 a month for each of the 17 employees who also cover family members, Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee said. She has asked the brokers to model a flat county contribution for every employee, and Doherty’s colleague Jeremy Bowman walked through scenarios with flat contributions of $1,100, $1,200 and $1,300 a month.

Chairman Gregg Motley said he would not support a change that raises premiums for employees who cover their children, such as raising a single mother’s premium by $600 or $700 a month. “I will never punish people for wanting to insure their children,” he said. “Having a vote of the majority, that’s the tyranny of the majority. They’re taking money from the minority.” Milburn-Kee replied, “I don’t think that it’s taking money from the minority. I think it’s giving an equal amount to everyone.”

Milburn-Kee asked that employees get a chance to tell the county’s HR consultant, Millie Lipscomb, what they think in private, because “some of them may be speaking against their leaders.” Commissioner David Beerbower agreed, saying employees who want to could talk with Lipscomb individually before Monday. Lipscomb said she would send her email address to department heads and would be at the courthouse two or three times that week.

Read the full story on the Nov. 9 meeting, or read the meeting transcript.