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2 <br /> recommendation on the identity of the provider is scheduled for consideration by the Board of <br /> Commissioners on April 5. <br /> Based on the initial solicitation results, the County's broker has estimated that total health <br /> insurance costs next fiscal year will remain flat or decrease slightly. As a result, no plan design <br /> changes are recommended. All covered benefits, co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles are <br /> expected to remain the same. <br /> If the budget for health insurance is decreased, the premium equivalents charged to employees <br /> will be adjusted accordingly. Employees currently pay a share of the premium for most of the <br /> plan options. Attachment B shows the current monthly and bi-monthly cost share of premium <br /> equivalents. <br /> Dental and Vision Insurance <br /> Delta Dental is the County's current dental provider and Community Eye Care provides the <br /> County's vision plan. As part of three year contract, the County will continue providing dental <br /> coverage through Delta Dental. The current budget for dental insurance coverage is <br /> approximately $320,000 annually. No increase in premium is recommended for FY 2016-2017. <br /> In fact, the County will improve the dental plan design by removing diagnostic and preventative <br /> services from the annual maximum covered services to promote preventative oral health care. <br /> The bi-monthly employee cost share of dental and vision premiums are also provided in <br /> Attachment B. <br /> Other Employee Programs <br /> The County will continue to partner with representatives of the UNC Wellness @ Work program <br /> to offer health screenings to all employees. In the fall of 2016, the Health and Human <br /> Resources Departments coordinated flu clinics for employees, and Human Resources held two <br /> Breast Cancer Awareness Days (for mammograms) at UNC Radiology in Hillsborough. See <br /> Attachment A for more detail on Employee Wellness Activities and Orange County Sportsplex <br /> enrollment. <br /> Compression Review <br /> Compression has been a growing concern among directors and employees and was ranking <br /> highly during the Department Director's prioritization of internal needs. Pay compression occurs <br /> when the difference between two salary grades or between two employees within the same <br /> salary grade is too small without an intentional, reasonable pay policy to explain that difference. <br /> A classic example of pay compression occurs when new employees are hired at the same or <br /> higher rates as employees who have been employed by the organization for several years. In <br /> this case, market rates for certain positions may have advanced beyond the salaries paid to <br /> current employees. The organization is compelled to pay market rates to attract well qualified <br /> new employees but does not feel the same pressure to increase the salaries of current <br /> employees. As a result, the pay of these employees is compressed with respect to their time <br /> and experience within the organization. <br /> To help quantify this issue for Orange County, Human Resources contracted with Gallagher <br /> Benefit Services Inc.'s Fox Lawson Group (FLG) to conduct a Compensation Philosophy <br /> Development and Pay Compression Study. The study found that the County experiencing pay <br /> compression at most grades in the salary schedule. The compression has been caused by <br />