County health insurance plan considered

VALPARAISO | The head of a Cincinnati-based health care consulting and benefit administration firm said he can save Porter County $4 million a year on its health insurance costs.

The claim from Thomas Quigley of ClaimLinx came during a Porter County Council meeting to address health insurance for the county's employees.

By using tax laws efficiently, Quigley said his company could offer between $2,000 and $4,000 savings per employee annually.

ClaimLinx has more than 200 clients in 18 states and one city — Huntington — in Indiana. Quigley said his company's fee to Porter County, if it used his services, would be 20 percent of every dollar in net savings.

Quigley, who self-published the book "How to Beat the High Cost of Health Care," said his system if used nationally could save the country "a trillion a year."

Michael Anton, of Anton Insurance, the servicing agent for Porter County, told the council that Quigley's claims "sound almost too good to be true."

"It deserves a lot more investigation and then I can give you a more accurate assessment," Anton said.

Councilman Jim Biggs, 1st District, said ClaimLinx "intrigues me" but would like to see Anton and Quigley work together.

Council President Dan Whitten wants to see what other approaches are available.

"What are other groups doing?" he said. "I want to know all options. We like to bid things out. Surely they're not the only group."

Prior to ClaimLinx's presentation, Randy Gomez of Nyhart, an actuary and employee benefits consulting firm in Indianapolis, told the board that its most popular option in its health plan, which has about 490 of 600 employees enrolled, is "a dinosaur plan."