Laredo ISD consultant: health plan faces $2.5M shortfall through Dec.; 2026 projected $7.7M gap

LAREDO Dec. 2025 — A consultant for HUB International told the Laredo ISD Board of Trustees on Tuesday that the districtself-funded health plan has run a significant budget gap and needs immediate fiscal choices to cover the remainder of 2025 and to reduce a larger projected shortfall for 2026.

Elizabeth (Liz) Bibbo, an employee-benefits consultant with HUB International, told trustees the districtexpects total health-plan funding of about $20,000,005.61 for calendar-year 2025 but forecasted expected health-plan costs at roughly $23,000,001.22, creating a roughly $2.5 million deficit for 2025 that would fall in part on district funding for July through Dec. 2025.

The shortfall for the 2026 calendar-year projection is larger: with medical and pharmacy trends applied, Bibbo said the planexpected cost for 2026 is about $28.4 million and, if contributions remain unchanged, that would generate an estimated $7.7 million deficit. "With the Rx rebate credit your total expected cost for 2026 is 28,400,000.0," Bibbo said. "If you do not make any changes to funding either on the employee side or the district side ... that would create…