CASE STUDY ON COSTS: KINGCARE AT KING COUNTY

One of the more eye catching headlines in health care of 2011 was the story on the savings achieved at King County by changing the way county employees manage their own health.  The Seattle Times story headlined “County Expects to Save Millions on Health-Care.“

By redesigning their health benefits program, King County was able to shed tens of millions of dollars off their projected health benefits budget.  KingCare, a project envisioned under former Executive Ron Sims, now has real data to demonstrate its success:  a savings of $23m in 2011 and $38m in 2012.

Constantine said he was a skeptic when the county began its Healthy Incentives program, conceived by former King County Executive Ron Sims. “But the data is in, and I’m proud of the results.”

Karleen Sakumoto, Manager of Employee Health and Well Being at King County, was joined by John Scoggins, a health care economist at the County budget office.  Together, they presented a case study on their success at King County at our 2012 State of Reform event last week in SeaTac.

Their presentation drew a lot of interest.  If you missed it, you can find the full presentation here.