Cooper City commissioners direct switch to Florida Blue and ask staff to use savings to limit worker disruption

Cooper City commissioners voted unanimously on Aug. 5 to switch the city—mployee health plan to a Florida Blue proposal and to direct city staff to use the budget savings from that move to limit disruption to employees.The vote followed a lengthy presentation and discussion after the city dministration said the incumbent pool (FMIT) issued a renewal of about 39.9% that would sharply raise employee and city costs.Mark Rodriguez, benefits consultant with The Garen Group, told the commission the city faces a tight timeline: if the commission decides now, carriers need notice to get enrollment paperwork loaded by roughly Sept. 8 so September open-enrollment work can finish and new coverage begin Oct. 1. Rodriguez said FMIT elivered a renewal that would raise premiums nearly 40%, and that the Florida Blue two-plan option would reduce total premiums about 5.2% compared with current rates but would shift some benefits and network access."If you were to switch to Florida Blue ... making that change would actually result in a decrease in your premiums of about 5.2%," Rodriguez said.The consultant and staff showed comparisons of the current FMIT plan and several alternative quotes. Key figures discussed included: a near-40% renewal from FMIT; a Florida Blue two-plan proposal that would lower premium cost roughly 5%; a Florida Blue…