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Irving proposes 2% increase in employee health‑plan rates for 2025–26 after higher claim trends
Summary
City staff recommended a 2% across‑the‑board premium increase for employees and employers, citing a 33–37% rise in year‑over‑year medical claims and growing numbers of high‑cost claimants.
Brett Star and city staff presented a proposed 2% increase in Irving’s employee health‑insurance premiums for fiscal 2025–26 during the June 25 work session.
Star said the city’s self‑insured plan serves about 1,902 enrolled employees and 4,277 total members. He said medical claims were running roughly 33–37% above prior‑year trends and that the plan currently has more claimants with very high costs: the plan had more than 30 claimants with claims over $100,000 totaling about $5.46 million, compared with 18 claimants and $3.2 million last year. Pharmacy trends were mixed; pharmacy costs showed different month‑to‑month fluctuations.
Based on consultant analysis, staff proposed a 2% rate increase for both employer and employee contributions across all plan tiers and designs, a change budgeted to cost the city about $479,000 overall and to raise general‑fund obligations by roughly $385,000. City staff said the proposed increase is intended to be conservative relative to projection models and that the city maintains stop‑loss insurance (individual attachment at $250,000) as a protection against catastrophic claims.
City personnel and labor concerns were raised: councilors asked whether the plan reflects CPI and national medical‑cost drivers; staff said the consultant had benchmarked trends and they preferred a series of smaller increases instead of larger, less frequent rate hikes. The council also heard that the city’s reserves could absorb one or more adverse years.
Ending: Council indicated support for the 2% projection but asked staff and HR to present final rate schedules and open‑enrollment materials in August so employees can make plan selections.
