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Clark County Fiscal Court approved a plan to switch the county employees’ health insurance coverage to a new provider which will allow for better access to health care and save the taxpayers money .

Court held a special meeting Monday to discuss the health insurance budget and solutions to mitigate liability.

After the county received a substantial increase for their health insurance budget, USI was hired to look at the entire self-funded program for the county’s 99 employees.

“It was our recommendation to move the program from their current carrier to a new carrier which effectively reduced the county’s cost by 28 percent,” said Curtis Schwartz of USI.

Effectively immediately, the changeover will save the taxpayers approximately $200,000. County had been paying approximately $1.9 million for health insurance but will now be paying approximately $1.7 million in 2022. County will make a decision later as to how to handle employees’ contribution to insurance premiums.

Magistrate Christopher Davis described the changeover as the “best possible outcome.”

Magistrate Daniel Konstantopoulos called the change that lowers costs and better for employees “a big deal.”

Good news for employees is that they will now have better access to care with United Healthcare, a larger healthcare network.

“They will have access to a much larger healthcare network,” Schwartz said. “Right now, that has been a big complaint that people can’t get access to care, can’t go to their doctors because of the network. Now, they will have a more efficient network to go to.”

Magistrate Greg Elkins said the transition between plans “won’t be without pain to bear (for employees), but it will be better in the long run.”