San Luis trustees approve roughly 32% health premium increase and add dental implant coverage

SAN LUIS — The San Luis Board of Trustees on Thursday voted to approve a 31.96% increase to the city employee health-plan premiums for the 2025–26 plan year and to expand dental coverage to include dental implants as a major service.

Trustees were presented with projections by Jennifer Aragon, CVS account executive, and supporting consultants showing the city’s expected medical-plan liability rising from roughly $3.2 million to just over $4.3 million under current enrollment and utilization. Aragon told trustees that the consulting team removed roughly $370,000 in claim load from the projection after confirming with the stop-loss carrier those claimants would not create plan liability next year. She also said the stop-loss contract retains a $100,000 individual specific deductible and a $50,000 aggregating specific.

The board’s executive advisors recommended sharing part of the increased cost with employees, noting city contributions would rise to about $3.65 million and employee contributions would increase to roughly $669,694 based on currently filled positions. The recommendation included asking the City Council to allocate $3.7 million to the trust for 2025–26 to cover the city’s portion.

Why it matters: Trustees were told the increase is driven by a small number of very large…