Council approves emergency action to hire Bailey Group to review city health plan

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee voted unanimously Aug. 5 to approve an emergency measure authorizing a contract with the Bailey Group to review the city's self-insured employee health plan.

The committee recorded a verbal vote of seven in favor, none opposed. The chair opened the emergency and, after a brief discussion about the consultant's role, the committee passed the emergency motion and an amendment to the bill before final approval.

Councilman Ron Salem, who introduced the emergency, said the consultant would begin work promptly to allow an agreement to be effective Oct. 1. "The purpose of the emergency is to get this contract set up and get it to OGC so that it could be signed and be effective October 1," Salem said. He said the city currently supplements employee premiums from self-insurance costs by roughly $23 million and asked for outside expertise to recommend plan design changes.

Other council members supported the move as an attempt to arrest growing health-care costs. Councilman Rory Diamond described the problem as an ongoing budget pressure and urged the committee to take recommendations seriously. Council members said the Bailey Group has worked with local police and fire plans and was expected to make recommendations on co-pays, deductibles and prescription benefits.

Councilmember Ashley Biden (spoke in queue), who disclosed she works with the Bailey Group through her employer and said ethics staff reviewed the matter, said she had seen positive results previously and expected the firm's recommendations would be difficult but necessary. "I did explain that to the ethics department ... they confirmed I do not have a voting conflict on this," Biden said.

The committee took the emergency vote verbally and recorded a 7-0 tally. The committee also passed an amendment to the proposed contract language before moving the bill forward as an emergency.