As efforts to pare down Kane County’s annual budget continue, one county board committee is looking to a fairly new, perhaps unorthodox source: removing coverage of weight-loss drugs from its employees’ health insurance plans.
The move, if it makes its way through the county board’s committees and secures final approval, could save Kane County around $1.5 million annually, according to county staff.
Kane County has been facing a looming budget shortfall in its general fund in recent years, which its board has been solving since 2023 by dipping into the county’s cash reserves.
But, county staff has cautioned that doing so won’t be an option forever, and that the county must make significant cuts or find new revenue before 2027 to avoid dipping into its required 90-day reserves.
That’s left the board with the task of finding new revenue or cutting costs to avoid spending down its reserve funds.
One possible solution was a 0.75% sales tax referendum question, but that was overwhelmingly shot down by voters in 2025.
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Last year, in the wake of the referendum question’s failure, the board considered a hiring freeze, reallocated sales tax revenue toward its general fund and asked its departments and offices to cut costs.
Nevertheless, the county ultimately ended up using about $6 million in cash reserves to balance its fiscal year 2026 budget, down from about $27 million used to balance its budget the year prior.
This year, the county board has affirmed its intention to use little to no reserves to balance the fiscal year 2027 budget, tasking members with finding other ways to balance it.
Employee health insurance plan costs have come up as one possible place to cut costs.
At a meeting of the county board’s Human Services Committee on Wednesday, committee chair Clifford Surges explained that the county was “challenged” this year about whether it wanted to consider a new provider for employee health insurance or stick with its current carrier.
Currently, Kane County employees are covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, per the county’s website.
But if the county wants to stick with its current carrier, it needs to “do a deep dive” given expected increases in premiums, Surges said.
Jamie Lobrillo, the county’s executive director of human resources, said at the meeting that the county has met with its broker, who is working to help them get costs down.
Lobrillo said that “one of the big drivers … over expected growth in the cost” for the county’s employee health insurance coverage is the county’s “stop loss premium.”
Stop loss insurance is purchased by employers who self-fund their employee benefit plans but don’t want to assume total liability for catastrophic losses that may arise. Under a stop loss policy, the insurance provider becomes liable for losses above a deductible set in the policy.
The county carries both a stop loss of $205,000 for individuals and an aggregate stop loss for the HMO plans it provides, which the county reached “for the first time ever,” Lobrillo said. That means the “total cost per employee of all employees was … significantly enough over its expected amount that that stop loss kicked in.”
As a result, Lobrillo said, the county’s rates have been increased “significantly.”
“In quick summation, something has changed,” Surges added. “Our rates aren’t just going up magically. Our rates are going up because we have the claims that are justifying those increases.”
So, Surges said, the county is trying to identify where those claims are coming from and whether its situation is unique.
Lobrillo said that between the start of 2025 and the end of last month, the county spent $2.4 million on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
This does not include the money spent on the version of those medications used in the treatment of diabetes, Lobrillo noted, for which the county spent about $1.1 million over the same time period.
This is apparently not unique, according to Lobrillo, who said human resources directors in surrounding counties are also seeing high costs related to GLP-1 drugs. Surrounding counties have stopped or are considering stopping coverage of them, she said.
“They’re essentially in the same place we are, and their directors have the same opinion I do,” Lobrillo said, “that for … the benefit and the financial solvency of this program, this is something that you need to do.”
Kane County wouldn’t be alone in making such a move. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that — with as many as one in eight Americans taking the drugs — big employers are dropping coverage of GLP-1s or making workers go through extra steps to get coverage for them.
For Kane County, not covering GLP-1 drugs for weight loss could provide an estimated savings of around $1.5 million per year, according to Lobrillo.
As a result, Surges on Wednesday said he was looking for a recommendation to bring forward a measure addressing this matter, acknowledging that it “may not be something that’s incredibly popular.”
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Board member Jon Gripe said he “agree(s) completely,” but asked about cases of medical necessity.
The county’s proposal, Lobrillo said, would be to still cover the medications for diabetes, but eliminate coverage of the drugs for weight loss.
In making the pitch for this measure, Lobrillo acknowledged that employees “very well may need to lose weight and we’re not doubting that,” but said there are “a lot of very affordable ways to receive GLP-1s now that were not available last year.”
Board member Anita Lewis also said she was in favor of the idea, but brought up that the county board and county employees need to know what other county offerings are available to help workers with their weight loss.
“I think that’s really important that they know that (we are) not just abandoning them on their weight loss journey, because it is important,” Lewis said.
The county already has some offerings related to weight loss for employees, like a health and wellness newsletter and physical activity and weight loss challenges, per the county’s website.
Lobrillo, at the committee meeting, also noted that the county’s spoken with its broker about the possibility of offering GLP-1 drugs for those who are “participating in a diet and exercise program and meeting other benchmarks.” She said its broker is going to provide the county with quotes on that, but it would only be available for PPO plans, not HMO plans.
“I’m not sure that we want to go down that road right now,” Lobrillo said, “simply because we’re trying to make sure that our benefits remain consistent between the HMO and the PPO.”
Board member Deborah Allan asked if there is any data available on whether these medications are working for county employees, and Lobrillo said the county doesn’t have access to medical details or health conditions of employees. Lobrillo also noted that they’re fairly new medications.
And board chair Corinne Pierog asked how many employees were on GLP-1s for weight loss, to which Lobrillo said it was 194 employees and around 80 dependents of employees. But Lobrillo explained that’s how many claims were made in the 16-month period they looked at, not necessarily that all of those people were still on the drugs currently or were taking them over that whole time period.
The county has more than 2,700 employees, including full-time, part-time, seasonal and election workers, according to the county’s most recent available annual comprehensive financial report.
Lobrillo said the county asked its broker to consider other cost-saving options, but the GLP-1 cuts are the largest possible savings, she said.
Should the county board approve of the proposal, Lobrillo said the county would inform employees that they’d no longer be covered for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs as of Jan. 1. She pointed out that giving some notice is better for employees and also from a contractual perspective in terms of the county continuing its current plan through the end of the year.
Gripe expressed some concern about what happens when someone stops taking GLP-1s, and Pierog also asked about how the county is going to help people already on these drugs transition to whatever’s next for them.
“That’s going to be very, very important,” Pierog said.
Giving employees ample notice is one reason to expedite the approval process for this measure, Lobrillo said, as is the fact that the county will want to factor its expected employee health insurance costs into this year’s budgeting process, which has already begun.
Lobrillo said she is looking to get agreement on the suggestion from the board before the county starts writing contracts with its insurance provider, which establishes its rates. She suggested a resolution be drafted for the county board’s meeting next month.
And Surges suggested the proposal be drafted and brought to the board’s Executive Committee for a discussion to ensure it’s considered in a timely manner, with the hope of “giv(ing) this as much runway … as possible.”
The Associated Press contributed.