PIKE COUNTY 2027 FAMILY HEALTH PLAN PREMIUM REACHES $42,600 A YEAR

PITTSFIELD, IL — Pike County’s newly posted 2027 employee health insurance rates show total premiums reaching $42,600 a year for family coverage under the county’s Traditional Major Medical option, substantially above the latest national average for employer-sponsored family health coverage.

The county’s official 2027 rate sheet lists the Traditional Major Medical plan at $3,550 per month for family coverage and $1,503 per month for employee-only coverage. Annualized, those figures equal $42,600 for family coverage and $18,036 for individual coverage.

For comparison, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey reported average annual premiums of $26,993 for family coverage and $9,325 for single coverage nationwide. That puts Pike County’s Traditional Major Medical total premium about 58 percent above the national family average and about 93 percent above the national single-coverage average. The comparison is not exact, because plan designs and public-sector benefit structures vary.

Pike County will have several lower-cost options available in 2027. The Traditional ACA Saver 1 plan lists total annual premiums of $12,984 for employee-only coverage and $27,264 for family coverage. The QHDHP ACA Saver 1 plan comes to $13,200 annually for employee-only coverage and $31,416 for family coverage. The county’s standard QHDHP option totals $15,720 for employee-only coverage and $37,404 for family coverage.

The rate sheet also shows that employees do not pay the entire premium themselves. Monthly payroll deductions vary by employee group and plan. Under the Traditional Major Medical family plan, for example, the listed monthly employee deduction is $1,289 for FOP employees and $1,420 for ambulance and other employees, leaving the balance to the county.

For employees enrolled in HSA-compatible plans, the county also lists monthly Health Savings Account contributions of $150 for FOP employees and $100 for ambulance and other employees. Those contributions are in addition to the county’s share of the insurance premium.

The health insurance costs were raised during the public-comment portion of the Pike County Board’s September 28 meeting, where concerns were voiced about the cost of the county’s benefits compared with typical employer-sponsored coverage. RiverNewsLive independently checked the county’s published 2027 rate sheet and the latest national benchmark data before reporting the figures.

Separate claims raised during public comment regarding insurance commissions and whether county officials have followed previous board direction on insurance agents could not be independently verified from the documents reviewed for this story and are not being presented here as established facts.

Pike County has participated in the HOPE Trust health plan for years. County records describe the HOPE Trust as an intergovernmental joint self-insurance risk pool that provides medical and prescription drug coverage for participating public employers.