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Lubbock council approves switch to self‑insured workers' compensation program
Summary
The City Council approved moving the city's workers' compensation program to a self‑insured model with a $750,000 stop‑loss and a two‑year third‑party administrator contract; staff estimated roughly $720,000 annual savings.
The Lubbock City Council voted unanimously March 25 to move the city's workers' compensation program to a self‑insured model and to contract with a third‑party administrator for claims processing.
City Manager Jared (last name not specified in the record) told the council the city had run a three‑year analysis and determined that switching from fully insured coverage to self insurance would produce significant savings. Jared said the city would buy stop‑loss insurance with a $750,000 per‑claim attachment point, and that a two‑year contract with a third‑party administrator (TPA) would manage claims until they reached that stop‑loss level.
The city manager estimated the change would save approximately $720,000 per year — about $1.45 million over two years — and emphasized that employees’ coverage and eligibility would remain the same. “Any of our folks that, unfortunately, need workers' comp, they're not going to see a difference,” Jared said.
Councilman Rose moved approval of items 5.5 and 5.6; Councilman Glasheen seconded. The motion carried on a unanimous vote.
The council packet shows the stop‑loss attachment and the two‑year TPA term as part of the recommendation; staff said the arrangement will be treated as a two‑year trial and the city may revert to fully insured coverage if the self‑insured option proves unfavorable.
Supporters said the change would produce near‑term budget savings across departments; staff noted relatively few claims will reach the stop‑loss threshold. No council member raised objections on the record before the vote.
The council approved the related contract and insurance purchase as consent agenda items after staff briefing; implementation details including the TPA vendor name and contract documents were included in the agenda packet.
