Milwaukee County benefits director fired following lapse in health insurance contract

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced an “employee” who let the county’s health insurance contract with UnitedHealthcare lapse last year has been fired.

“This was an error by an employee in the Department of Human Resources, and as a result, that employee no longer works for Milwaukee County,” Crowley said in a statement.

Crowley did not name the employee, but a spokesperson confirmed to WPR Milwaukee County Human Resources Benefits Director Tony Maze was no longer with the county.

On Monday, a joint committee of the County Board’s finance and personnel committees approved a new health insurance contract with UnitedHealthcare. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will vote on the contract during a meeting this Thursday.

Supervisors learned Jan. 29 that the county’s health insurance contract with UnitedHealthcare expired at the end of 2025. The contract covered insurance for 5,168 current employees and retirees.

County officials said last week that coverage for those employees was continuing under the lapsed contract. But deputy corporation counsel William Davidson said there could be “catastrophic risk” if the county does not move to approve a contract soon. He said the ability for county employees to “receive and pay for services might be affected.”

Crowley urged the county board on Monday to approve the contract with UnitedHealthcare.

“While employees currently have active health care coverage, this contract approval is needed for Milwaukee County to control costs and continue to provide health care benefits to thousands of employees and their families,” he said.

County Comptroller Liz Sumner told board members last week the new contract did not meet the county’s current standards.

If the county approves the contract, it will be in effect through 2030.

Maze told supervisors last week he hired an outside actuary to do the request for proposals for a health plan for employees in an attempt to save money. When pressed about the issue by county supervisors, Maze said he did not follow the county’s rules for the request for proposal process.

Much like during Thursday’s meeting, County Supervisors on Monday said the lapse was alarming and concerning.

“I’m actually overwhelmed by anger right now, because we only learned about this Thursday,” Milwaukee County Supervisor Kathleen Vincent said.

“We must do better — this is unacceptable and totally preventable,” Vincent added.

After the meeting, Milwaukee County Supervisor Felesia Martin said she was “in a state of disbelief.”

“Mistakes happen, but a mistake on this magnitude, it has so many negative implications for county employees,” Martin said.

Jeremy Lucas, the policy director for Milwaukee County, called the lapse a “significant error.”

“I understand and recognize that this error puts you all in a very stressful situation, and again, we apologize for that,” Lucas, who was representing the county executive’s office at the meeting, said.

County releases timeline of events

According to a timeline released by the county Monday, Maze emailed the Audit Services Division in the County Comptroller’s office on Sept. 17, 2025 to say “Milwaukee County is going to extend its contract with United Health Care.” He continued that UHC has raised questions regarding audit language.

On Sept. 18, auditors told Maze in order to reach a decision on the audit language, the office would need a copy of the draft contract. And they will need to confer with corporation counsel.

Five emails went back and forth between the audit division and Maze, before auditors concluded “we really do need to have the context of the contract in order to consider any changes.”

On Jan. 15, there was a teams call from Maze to the Audit Compliance Manager to share that the UnitedHealthcare contact expired. On that call, Maze asked the audit manager to “just accept the language” so the contract can be submitted to finance.

On Jan. 16, auditors told Maze they still had not seen the original contract with UnitedHealthcare that they had asked for on Sept. 18.

Maze produced copies of the 2020 and 2023 contracts with UnitedHealthcare, but not 2026.

From there, the timeline shows auditors and the corporation counsel met from Jan. 22 through Jan. 28.

Crowley, a Democrat who is in a crowded field of candidates for Wisconsin governor, is in damage control mode.

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany who recently received President Trump’s endorsement for governor posted on X that Crowley is not qualified to run.

“@DavidCCrowley can’t run a county, how is he going to run a state? Milwaukee County’s employee health care contract expired, leaving the county to face “catastrophic risk.”

During a press conference Monday, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is running against Crowley as a Democrat, said she believes there was a “breakdown in leadership” regarding the lapse.

“I think it is scary and unfortunate that that happened,” Rodriguez said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Crowley campaign wrote that he is the only candidate in the race for governor with “real, hands-on experience solving these kinds of problems.”

“This situation was serious, and David Crowley treated it that way from the moment it came to light,” the statement said. “He moved immediately to ensure county employees did not experience interruptions in their coverage and fired the staffer responsible for the lapse. That is what accountability looks like.”