Board approves health, dental and vision renewals with Cigna and Kansas City Life

The Churchill County Board accepted the Insurance Advisory Committee's recommendation for FY2026-27 health, dental and vision coverage.

Committee members explained Cigna's initial renewal was a large increase; the committee sent the account to market and received proposals from Anthem and Cigna. After negotiation, the committee recommended medical coverage with Cigna (updated final increase presented at about 6.2% on the base plan), dental with Kansas City Life (a 4.1% decrease and improved local dentist access), and vision with Kansas City Life (a 5% decrease using VSP). The committee recommended a county contribution to employee Health Savings Accounts of $99.28 per month for employees enrolled in the high-deductible HSA option.

The committee emphasized plan design changes and noted that Anthem could not provide the same blended outcome across tiers. With those recommendations and an adjusted HSA figure read into the record, a commissioner moved and the board voted to accept the committee's recommendations as corrected in the motion.

Why it matters: the action sets employer-paid insurance providers, plan designs and the county's HSA contribution for the year beginning July 1, 2026, and affects employees' out-of-pocket costs and provider networks.

Board members thanked the committee for its work and the county will begin open enrollment with the changes effective July 1.