Collin County Medical Insurance Discount Program

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

Rising health care claims costs continue to remain an issue of great importance for many employers, including Collin County. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 80 percent of illnesses in the United State can be classified as preventable and are responsible for 90 percent of health care costs. With 1,600 employees, Collin County believes that preventative care is vital to increasing employee longevity and controlling health care costs. Collin County employees face a number of preventable health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and hypertension. Concerns regarding employee health and increasing claims costs led Commissioners’ Court to initiate change and improvement in these areas. Collin County’s medical insurance discount program was established to promote preventative care, early detection and early treatment of illnesses, utilization of primary care physicians and the overall lowering of health care costs. Utilizing cooperative efforts from Human Resources, the Collin County Health Care Department, UnitedHealth Care and employees, Collin County’s medical insurance discount program succeeds in promoting preventative care through the use of an incentive in the form of an annual discount on health insurance premiums. Since the program’s inception in 2008, participation has nearly doubled, and claims costs for participating employees have steadily decreased.