City
County Saves $61 Million in Lower Health Care Costs
In the runup to King County Executive Dow Constantine's 2011-2012 budget speech on Monday, Constantine announced today that the county will be able to reduce its health care budget by $23 million in 2011 and $38 million in 2012, thanks to the success of its "Healthy Incentives" plan, which encourages employees to lose weight, quit smoking, and work out, and because employees are bearing a greater cost of their own health care, opting for the cheaper Group Health program over the county's preferred provider, KingCare, and using generic drugs instead of more-expensive name-brand prescriptions.
The only areas in which employees' health did not improve were stabilizing blood sugar and blood pressure, exercising regularly, and reducing stress and depression (the first two categories stayed the same, and stress and depression among county employees got worse).
Between 2005 and 2009, Constantine said, the county saved $26 million over its projected costs. "At a time when we Americans are quite frankly getting fatter and sicker, our employees are getting thinner and healthier," Constantine said.
County employees pay about 18 percent of their health-care costs. County officials said today that they don't plan to consider making employees pay a premium, as most other local government employees do, because that just shifts the cost to employees without changing the cost of health care overall.
King County faces a $20 million shortfall in its operating budget for next year.
(One potential dark cloud behind today's good news: As the Seattle Times reported today, a contract that guarantees King County sheriff's deputies annual raises of 5 percent contributed an additional $11.8 million to the county's budget last year compared to 2007 even as the sheriff's office cut deputy positions to save money).
The only areas in which employees' health did not improve were stabilizing blood sugar and blood pressure, exercising regularly, and reducing stress and depression (the first two categories stayed the same, and stress and depression among county employees got worse).
Between 2005 and 2009, Constantine said, the county saved $26 million over its projected costs. "At a time when we Americans are quite frankly getting fatter and sicker, our employees are getting thinner and healthier," Constantine said.
County employees pay about 18 percent of their health-care costs. County officials said today that they don't plan to consider making employees pay a premium, as most other local government employees do, because that just shifts the cost to employees without changing the cost of health care overall.
King County faces a $20 million shortfall in its operating budget for next year.
(One potential dark cloud behind today's good news: As the Seattle Times reported today, a contract that guarantees King County sheriff's deputies annual raises of 5 percent contributed an additional $11.8 million to the county's budget last year compared to 2007 even as the sheriff's office cut deputy positions to save money).
