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Consultant tells Findlay council city—s self-funded health plan is well-reserved amid vendor transition
Summary
Risk Strategies consultant Ben Ottley briefed Findlay City Council on May 7, describing the city—s self-funded group health plan, recent vendor changes to MedBend, stop-loss coverage, and ongoing steps to resolve service transition issues raised by employees.
Ben Ottley, a consultant with Risk Strategies, gave a public-communication briefing to Findlay City Council on May 7 about the city—s group health, dental and vision plans, which the city operates as a self-funded program.
Ottley said the plan has long-standing reserves and uses a "plug-and-play" structure: the city self-funds claims up to a stop-loss threshold (noted at $150,000), and purchases stop-loss insurance for catastrophic claims. The plan—s third-party administrator is MedBend (MedBen) and the stop-loss placement is on Nationwide paper via Ryan Specialty (formerly Accurist). The plan uses regional PPO networks including the Northwest Ohio Health Partnership and OhioHealth Choice, and the city—s pharmacy benefit management and specialty-drug arrangements were described.
"We have been working with the city since 2011," Ottley said, explaining Risk Strategies— role in actuarial oversight, vendor evaluation and benefits consulting. He provided council a chart showing the plan—s performance versus public-entity benchmarks, saying the plan has outperformed those benchmarks under current management.
Council members and the mayor asked about employee concerns following the vendor transition to MedBend. Ottley and staff acknowledged transition "growing pains," saying some actions by the prior administrator did not fully align with the plan document and that current vendors and the auditors— office are working to correct those issues. The mayor said a city employee health-insurance committee will meet the following week, and that administration and the auditors— office will share updated materials with employees and council.
Council did not take formal action; the briefing was for education and to invite further questions. Staff said they will present the same material to employees and continue to monitor vendor performance and compliance with the plan document.
