Peoria County is preparing to expand its employee health plan coverage to comply with the Affordable Care Act. New regulations require the county to cover the cost for mammograms, colonoscopies and immunizations as much as 100-percent.
Shauna Musselman is assistant director of human resources at Peoria County. She says the expanded plan coverage will cost the County more than 800-thousand-dollars in 2014 compared to this year:
“But the hope is that from an employee wellness standpoint that the employees will go utilize those services and that we will catch illnesses or issues that they may have early before they become a significant or a chronic problem, and in doing so, that will help us to get control of those issues from the get-go.”
Musselman says that means lower health Care costs in the long-term. She says the County risks facing significant fines from the federal government if it doesn’t comply with the Affordable Care Act. The Peoria County Board considers expanding healthcare coverage at its Thursday meeting.