2025-11-10 Read-Ahead for BOCC regarding Insurance Rules
Human Resources
November 10, 2025
To: Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)
Ryan Barrett, County Manager
Becky Butler, Budget & Risk Director
Graham Gowing, Chief Deputy Auditor
From: Angie Hodge, HR Director
Subject: Rules for Self-Administered Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance – 2026
There are three decisions for the Commissioners to make today regarding our insurance plan
structure now that we have moved away from PEBB and no longer are required to follow its rules.
As we have more freedom to self-administer our insurance plans, it requires additional decisions
to be made as we put the County in the best possible position.
The attached document, entitled “Lewis County Self-Administered Insurance Rules” is a
collaborative effort between HR, payroll, and the County Manager, which contains the existing
PEBB rules and recommendations for the two decisions outlined in this memo. After the BOCC
makes decisions today, this document will be updated to reflect your decisions and posted on
HR’s intranet page. As other decisions come before the BOCC, or we learn of requirements from
our insurance providers, HR will update this ‘living’ document.
The second attachment, was prepared by the Auditor’s Office entitled “2026 Lewis County
AFSCME/Non-Represented Employees Health and Welfare Rate sheet” and separates all of
the rates into their respective tiers for employee, employee & spouse, employee & children, and
family tiers.
If the BOCC agrees with the other areas in the document (based on PEBB rules and current
County practices), there are only two areas in the Insurance Rules document that need the
BOCC’s approval:
The first is the rule regarding Extra-help (casuals), which is based on PEBB, but modified:
• Employees who are hired as casuals are not eligible for insurance benefits from the County.
• However, they will become eligible if they work for at least 6 months and 1 day for at least
80 hours per month, with no break in service.
351 NW North Street
Chehalis, WA 98532-1900
360.740.2737
HR@Lewiscountywa.gov
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• If they become eligible for insurance benefits, and sign up for coverage, 100% of the
premiums will be paid by the employee via payroll deduction. This does not cost the
County anything but allows these employees to self-pay for insurance.
• Returning seasonal employees will be considered to have a break in service after one
month of no work, so they will not be offered insurance until they work for at least 6 months
and 1 day at a minimum of 80 hours per month.
Is this approved by the BOCC?
The second is regarding allowing employees to select different tiers for medical, dental, and
vision. For example, if I choose “employee only” for one coverage (i.e. medical), am I limited to
choosing employee only for the remaining coverage (dental and vision)? Or, if I choose employee
only for one coverage (i.e. medical), am I permitted to cover dependents on the other insurances
(dental and vision)? And, if I am permitted, how will the costs be divided between the employee
and the County?
Background:
Under PEBB, the County was required to pay for Dental, Vision, and Life insurance, which was
approximately $170 per month in a COMPOSITE rate (one rate for all tiers). Employees were not
allowed to waive these coverages, and the same rate was charged whether an employee was
covering themselves only, or a full family. Under our new benefits structure, Dental and Vision
insurance are charged differently depending on which TIER is chosen. Employees can waive any
of these insurances (except the BOCC has decided to automatically cover employees for $35,000
of life insurance/AD&D for $5.57 per month, which is an excellent benefit).
Current situation:
The Full Family Tier for all of our plans is the most expensive: dental is $120.01 and vision is
$29.84 for a total of just under $150. Even when you add in the $5.57 of life insurance, this is still
less expensive than the composite rate of $170 that PEBB would charge the County for every
eligible employee.
Intentions:
When the insurance rates were quoted, they were combined into one rate to help us compare
with PEBB. We did not separate the rates and contribution amounts for each of the coverages for
each of the tiers. On October 27, 2025, the BOCC approved the following contributions towards
the ‘bundled’ rates, assuming each employee would select the same tier for each coverage. The
breakdown for the bundled rates was as follows:
Tier Employer Contribution
Employee Only $970
Employee + Spouse $1,440
Employee + Children $1,440
Full Family $1,790
After additional collaboration with Budget and the Auditor’s Office, HR’s recommendation is for
the BOCC to rescind the ‘bundled’ rates that were approved on October 27, 2025, and the
subsequent edit to the Employee Only High Deductible Health Plan contribution amount which
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was approved by the BOCC on November 3, 2025, and, instead, approve the attached rate sheet
created by the Auditor’s Office, which specifies the amount the BOCC will pay towards each tier.
This will be the most seamless transition from PEBB to our own insurance plans, and we can work
on developing new rules for next year if desired.
Does the BOCC approve to rescind the October 27, 2025 rate sheet, and the subsequent edit
to the Employee Only CDHP 2000 plan, in favor of adopting the revised 2026 rate sheet which
redistributes the amounts approved to show how much is going towards dental, vision, and
medical? (Screen shot of rate sheet below)
And, finally does the BOCC approve that ‘permanent part-time employees’ (non-rep or
AFSCME) receive 100% of the dental and vision premium contributions from the County, and
a pro-rated amount towards their medical insurance based on the number of hours they are
hired to work compared to that of full-time employment? For example, a .5 FTE would receive
.5 of the employer-paid amounts towards medical, and the remainder of the premium would be
paid by the employee, if they opt in.