Keene Council approves new employee health plan; broker highlights Curative, TML pool and tradeoffs

Keene — The City Council voted unanimously to adopt a package of employee benefits that replaces the city’s current UnitedHealthcare program with a Curative triple-option plan using an EPO as the city’s base contribution, and to move dental, vision and disability plans to Mutual of Omaha. The council also approved ancillary benefits including a short- and long-term disability structure, a Teladoc-style “new benefits” virtual care line, and optional MASA ambulance gap coverage.

Why it matters: The benefit changes are projected to reduce the city’s near-term employer health-care costs while also altering employee out-of-pocket exposure and member experience. Brokers and staff told the council the options would either keep costs flat with UnitedHealthcare or produce notable savings: about $103,000 annually if the city moved to the Texas Health Benefits Pool (TML) and about an 11% blended reduction versus current costs; Curative produced a smaller but still meaningful reduction and offered different member-facing features.

Hub International broker Rodney Dryden reviewed three vendor…