Rio Grande City approves Curative medical plan, switches voluntary products to Mutual of Omaha; COBRA administration set with CBA

The Rio Grande City Commission on Aug. 14 approved the agent-of-record's recommendations to change the city's health insurance and voluntary benefit vendors for the plan year beginning Oct. 1, 2025.

Staff recommended moving the city's medical plan to Curative and replacing voluntary products with Mutual of Omaha; the commission also approved Creative Benefit Administrators for COBRA administration. Valerie Garza of the human resources department told the commission the recommendations are based on a request-for-quote and review process with the city's insurance committee.

Jonathan, the city's agent of record, presented comparative pricing and plan design. He said Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas proposed a 12.4% renewal increase to about $599.83 per employee, which he estimated would add roughly $130,000 to the city's budget. The Curative proposal, he said, reduced the city's contribution from $533.66 to $502.16 per employee (a 5.9% reduction) and included a $45,000 one-time transition credit; Jonathan said the change would save the city "over a $100,000" compared with the current plan. Jonathan described Curative's plan design as offering $0 deductibles, $0 maximum out-of-pocket and $0 co-pays for primary care, specialists and most services for employees who complete a short health screening within four months of the Oct. 1 effective date.

Garza recommended approval of Curative for medical coverage and Mutual of Omaha for life, AD&D, dental, vision and other voluntary products. The record shows city-paid basic life and AD&D would increase from $10,000 to $25,000 under the recommended Mutual of Omaha package, at a small net premium change (monthly premium cited in the presentation moved from $294.82 to $316 in the negotiated illustration). Staff said Mutual of Omaha matched current plan designs while adding value benefits such as a health screening incentive, hospital indemnity and other employee services.

The commission approved the package by motion and voice vote. Commissioners present said "aye" and the mayor declared the motion carried.

The presentation included these clarifications recorded on the record: the Curative $0-cost plan requires each employee and dependents age 18+ to complete an intake/health screening (described as a roughly 15- to 60-minute phone or virtual visit) within four months of the Oct. 1 effective date; employees who do not complete the screening would be placed on an alternate plan design (a $5,000 deductible) while compliant employees would retain the $0 design. Staff noted the city has approximately 166 employees; the presentation said if two employees did not complete the requirement, only those employees would move to the alternate plan. COBRA administration was recommended with Creative Benefit Administrators; the vendor's administrative fee was described as roughly $0.50—to $0.55 per employee and COBRA premiums are paid by the departing employee.

The commission did not make a decision on a voluntary air-transport plan (MASA) during this meeting; staff said MASA would be discussed with finance at a later date and could be offered voluntarily to employees with different coverage tiers and employer-contribution options.

No formal roll-call vote with individual member tallies was recorded in the transcript; the meeting record shows the motion carried by voice vote.