Health Care Cost Control Program
2009 NACo Achievement Award Winner
Miami-Dade County, Fla., FL
Best In Category
About the Program
Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)
Year: 2009
Miami-Dade County provides healthcare to approximately 28,000 County employees, 10,000 Public Health Trust employees and another 2,200 retirees. Prior to 2008, they offered a self-funded Point of Service, four fully insured HMOs, and three Medicare supplement plans, utilizing five different health care providers. Like most employers, they continued to feel the burden of annual increases in healthcare costs. Their retirees (who pay the full cost of their healthcare) and the employees providing coverage to their dependents were likewise feeling the strain of rising premiums. They developed a strategy to reduce costs by consolidating their plan offerings and changing their funding methodology to self-funded. It was critical that they preserved the integrity of their benefit package, and assured that employees and their families were able to maintain provider relationships they had established. They committed to the Board of County Commissioners and their employees that any savings the County was able to achieve would be used to reduce dependent and retiree premiums.