Meeting Place: Fulton County Courthouse, 100 N. Main St., Room 301, Lewistown, IL 61542
Time: 4:00 PM
Date: September 28th, 2026
SPEAKERS: Asia Weber – AFSCME Local President, Martha Merrill – AFSCME Council 31 Director of Research and Employee Benefits
County employees, retirees, and board members attended.
Asia Weber, president of the local AFSCME union, opened the meeting and clarified that this was purely an educational and informational meeting only, not a decision-making session by the county board.
Martha Merrill introduced herself as Director of Research and Employee Benefits for AFSCME Council 31, with nearly 20 years of experience in health insurance and benefits. She explained that she administers Council 31’s self-insured health plan and was invited to provide education on self-insurance concepts being discussed for Fulton County.
The county currently pays $3.6 million annually for health insurance through Blue Cross and is facing a 15% increase for the upcoming year. The county has a cap limiting the increase to 15%, while similar organizations are seeing 25-30% increases without caps.
Discussion: Educational Presentation on Self-Insurance
Martha Merrill provided a comprehensive overview of self-insurance as an alternative to fully insured health plans.
Under self-insurance, costs are transparent and comprised of actual medical claims, pharmacy costs, third-party administrator fees, and stop-loss insurance premiums. This eliminates the profit component and hidden fees built into fully insured renewal rates.
Self-insured plans offer significantly more flexibility in plan design and benefits compared to the take-it-or-leave-it approach of traditional carriers. The county and union could negotiate coverage that best fits the workforce needs.
A third-party administrator would handle all traditional insurance company functions including eligibility verification, prior authorizations, claims pricing, and payment to providers. From an employee perspective, the experience would be virtually identical to current arrangements.
Martha noted that self-insured plans are the only plans where she has seen premiums decrease year-over-year or remain level when claims stay stable, unlike fully insured plans that consistently increase regardless of claims experience.
Several structural options were discussed including employer pools where multiple counties join together to spread risk, though this was noted as a secondary consideration after basic self-insurance structure.
The broker is expected to bring insurance proposals to the JAHIC (Joint Advisory Health Insurance Committee) by mid-October. The broker will present both self-funded and fully funded options. The committee will review and make recommendations to the full board using the same process followed every year.
The broker will assemble all cost data including third-party administrator fees, stop-loss insurance costs, and network rental fees before any decision is made. All questions about network composition, coverage details, copays, deductibles, and potential provider disruption will be answered when the formal proposal is presented.
Discussion: Union and Employee Perspective
Union representatives emphasized they are not advocating for or against any specific option but want to ensure members have complete information. The meeting was called because self-insurance has been discussed and rumors were circulating. The goal is to keep insurance affordable while understanding all available options.
The bargaining committees are currently in contract negotiations, and the health insurance committee wanted members to have information so they can come to future meetings with informed questions and concerns.
Martha Merrill offered to research and provide comparative data from other similarly sized counties that have implemented self-insurance, including information on their premium trends and experiences. This information could be shared with the group for discussion.
Discussion was held about ensuring all employees are notified when the formal insurance proposals are presented to JAHIC. County board meeting agendas are posted on the website, at the courthouse, and on the union bulletin board downstairs.
