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Palmview council approves switch to Curative health plan for city employees
Summary
City officials voted to transition the municipal employee medical plan from Blue Cross to Curative, citing a roughly 23% renewal increase from the incumbent and an offer that would reduce out-of-pocket costs for employees.
The Palmview City Council voted Aug. 18 to approve a change in the city’s employee medical plan from Blue Cross to Curative, a new carrier the city says offered lower costs and a more generous benefits design.
City officials said the change follows a market review after the Blue Cross renewal came in steeply higher than the city expected. The administration recommended Curative after receiving competitive bids from UnitedHealthcare and others, and after staff met with Curative representatives to review benefits and implementation.
City staff reported the composite renewal from Blue Cross across the city’s three current plans averaged about 23 percent. The council’s staff presentation said the city currently offers three medical plan tiers (a $2,500-deductible PPO, a $750 mid-tier PPO and a $500 buy-up PPO). Curative’s single-plan proposal would change that design and, according to staff, offer $0 deductibles and $0 primary-care copays for in-network visits plus reduced co-pays for specialists, urgent care, emergency services, labs, X-rays and prescription drugs.
"This carrier has already been in a few other cities in the Valley," a city staff presenter said, adding the plan design would both enhance employee coverage and reduce the city’s overall premium expense compared with the Blue Cross renewal. The presenter also said supplemental voluntary products (dental, vision, etc.) will remain under their current rate guarantees and are not changing.
Council members moved and seconded the recommendation to transition the medical plan to Curative; the motion passed on a voice vote. After the vote, staff said they would continue implementation work and return with enrollment materials to employees.
Implementation notes provided at the meeting said the transition is expected to be managed by the city’s human-resources/finance staff, with carrier onboarding and employee communications to follow. Staff said they ran additional diligence on Curative’s network and customer feedback and flagged no major issues during their review.
The council’s motion did not include a detailed breakdown of projected annual savings in the meeting minutes; staff said those figures and plan documents would be provided to employees and posted ahead of open-enrollment meetings.
