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Jones County board approves Cigna renewal, agrees to absorb $492,000 increase for 2025 plan year
Summary
After a presentation from a benefits consultant, the Board of Commissioners voted to keep the county's health plan with Cigna and absorb a roughly $492,000 premium increase for the coming year while keeping employee cost shares unchanged; the board also approved changes to voluntary life/disability carriers and to cancel Brella.
Jones County commissioners voted May 6 to renew the county's employee health insurance with Cigna and to absorb an increased premium for the 2025 plan year while maintaining the existing employer-employee cost split.
The board's vote followed a presentation by the county's benefits consultant, who said the insurer had originally proposed a 25% renewal but that negotiations and the county's broader relationship with Cigna reduced the increase to roughly $492,000. The consultant cited a high rolling loss ratio (22% over the last 12 months, 32% for the plan year) and multiple very large medical claims as the main drivers of the renewal level.
Jonathan (employee benefits consultant) told the board the plan is tracking to pay about $3.4 million in claims this plan year against $2.5 million in premium, producing a significant deficit that limited competition from other carriers. He said: "You're tracking to pay $3,400,000 in claims this plan year. You're tracking to pay $2,500,000 in premium." He added that Cigna gave a concession to reduce the initial renewal proposal, and recommended staying with Cigna.
The consultant recommended limited plan design changes to reduce future utilization: raising emergency-room cost-sharing to steer nonemergency visits to urgent care or virtual care, and adding a prescription-drug deductible that would apply to brand-name/nonpreferred medications to discourage expensive brand use when generics exist. He warned these prescription changes could affect members who truly need brand drugs and noted there are cases where a brand medication (for example, some patients report) is the only tolerated medicine.
Commissioners and staff discussed trade-offs. One commissioner said he preferred to absorb the increase for one year rather than pass it immediately to employees; another asked the consultant to provide data on nonemergency ER use over the next year to measure the effect of education efforts. The consultant noted one current-year high-cost claimant accounted for roughly $630,000 in paid claims and is no longer active on the plan.
In a subsequent motion, the board approved staying with the existing plan design and the same employer-employee split for July 1 effective coverage (the consultant noted July 1 start gives two months in the current fiscal year to cover part of the increase). The board also accepted the consultant's recommendations to: change voluntary life and disability carriers from Lincoln to The Hartford (projected county savings of about $22,000 annually and lower employee payroll deductions), keep dental and vision with current vendors, and cancel the Brella plan. Motions on those items carried.
Discussion-only items included education campaigns to reduce nonemergency ER visits and the feasibility of a more sophisticated HRA/benefit design in future years to steer care toward lower-cost providers. The board directed staff to provide more utilization detail and to monitor effects over the next plan year.
Ending: The county will implement the renewed Cigna contracts July 1 and staff will return with utilization reporting and any operational follow-up as the fiscal year progresses.
