If you had a chance to give hard-working people better health care while saving nearly $1 million, you would do it in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you? 

Well, somebody ought to tell that to the Jackson County Commissioners.

Right now, county employees – SEIU 503 members who provide vital public services in Southern Oregon – have a health care plan that has such high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses that many of them skip doctor’s visits or use public assistance to pay for healthcare.

So they found a better deal – called the PEBB deal. 

PEBB – the Public Employee Benefits Board – puts county employees into a statewide insurance pool along with public employees from all over Oregon. By joining a larger group, the county can buy a better healthcare plan at a lower cost, saving Jackson County taxpayers $920,000 per year. And those savings are locked in. PEBB plans are legally capped at 3.4 percent cost growth per year, which means they’re protected from rising costs that plague most other health insurance options. 

Incredibly, Jackson County commissioners said no. Apparently, they are okay wasting your tax dollars on a health care plan that doesn’t even provide better care.

So if you see a Jackson County Commissioner around town, tell them to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and take the PEBB deal.