Boulder County advances Marathon Health clinics while deferring 2027 plan costs
Commissioners directed staff to pursue no-cost Marathon Health clinics and end MindCo, but postponed decisions on deductibles, copays and employee premium contributions.
Boulder County commissioners directed staff Aug. 27 to pursue no-cost Marathon Health primary-care clinics for employees and dependents in 2027. They postponed decisions on deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, prescription copays and a proposed shift of more premium costs to employees.
The county’s benefits workshop materials project $36.9 million in 2027 medical and pharmacy costs under the status quo, a 16.6% increase in budget rates. The materials project $36.3 million under the Benefits Advisory Board’s recommendation and $35.9 million under a more aggressive consultant option.
The meeting record does not identify a date for the remaining plan-design and premium decisions. Staff and consultants were asked to prepare a fourth scenario that would keep employee payroll deductions and plan designs as close as possible to 2026 levels while accounting for deductible increases required by the Internal Revenue Service. Open enrollment is planned for Oct. 14-28, but that is not the announced decision date.
Marathon costs vary by engagement scenario
Marathon Health would provide no-cost primary-care visits, laboratory services and certain generic medications through 14 near-site clinics, with virtual care intended to fill geographic gaps. The presentation said 97% of the county’s population would be within 15 miles of a clinic.
Consultants identified $2.3 million in county-paid 2025 claims and $1.2 million in employee out-of-pocket spending that potentially could have been redirected to Marathon. Those figures represent an opportunity, not guaranteed savings; actual results would depend on participation and service use.
The county budgeted the Marathon benefit as cost-neutral in 2027. The workshop included engagement-based scenarios rather than a single contract price. First-year startup fees and pass-through claims totaled $638,063 under a lower-engagement scenario and $812,051 under a moderate-engagement scenario. Year-two ongoing fees and pass-through claims were listed at $1.03 million and $1.39 million, respectively. The documents do not state how much would be paid directly to Marathon or establish a separate ongoing annual contract charge.
Premium and plan-design choices deferred
The unresolved proposals would increase deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums and raise some prescription copays under the Hybrid Plan. Commissioners also deferred a proposal to shift 1 percentage point of premium costs from the county to employees, changing the proposed split from 86.7% county and 13.3% employees to 85.7% and 14.3%.
Commissioners directed staff to retain the current out-of-network cross-accumulation policy for the Consumer Choice Plan rather than adopt a proposal to eliminate it.
MindCo to end Dec. 31
Commissioners directed staff to terminate MindCo’s virtual mental-health and tobacco-cessation benefit effective Dec. 31, 2026. The workshop materials projected about $110,000 in annual savings.
A utilization table listed six engaged users of MindCo’s stress-relief program in 2025 and seven in 2026 year-to-date. It listed eight tobacco-cessation users in 2025 and one in 2026 year-to-date. The meeting recording explained that “engaged” users had downloaded the app and accessed a program, while a few hundred people had enrolled or requested virtual-reality devices.
The available county benefits guide says MindCo was offered to employees, not dependents. The available records do not show a dependent-user count or provide a separate employee breakdown beyond the program totals.
After MindCo ends, the county identified stress-relief and tobacco-cessation resources through its CuraLinc employee-assistance program, mental-health treatment and prescription coverage through the Aetna/CVS plans, and the existing Personify Health wellness program. The materials call for communicating those alternatives but do not specify current CuraLinc session limits or the precise post-MindCo services available to dependents and household members.
The county’s health and dental fund had about $11.2 million in fund balance after using roughly $3.2 million in 2025. The medical and pharmacy plan ran about $3.2 million over budget in 2025 and was projected to do so again in 2026 based on data through June.