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City hears proposal to reduce employee medical deductibles, save roughly 5% in employer cost
Summary
A consultant presented an option to change the city's Blue Cross Blue Shield plan design that would lower deductibles and primary-care copays; the proposal was presented as producing roughly $45,200 in annual city savings but a formal council vote on the benefit package is not recorded in the transcript.
Todd Ledford, an employee-benefits consultant with NFP, presented proposed changes to the city’s employee health and ancillary benefit plans, including a recommended “Option 2” that reduces the base medical deductible and lowers copayments.
Ledford told the council the packet before them summarizes current plans and the proposed designs. Under the current base plan, the deductible is $2,500; the consultant said Option 2 would make the base plan a $2,100 deductible and reduce the primary-care copay from $30 to $25 and the specialist copay from $50 to a lower amount tied to the proposed plan design.
“This says a lot about how the city’s managing its plan and how the employees are being stewards of the plan,” Ledford said, adding that the recommended changes would retain Blue Cross Blue Shield’s high-performing networks and are not expected to create access problems.
Nut graf: The presentation framed the changes as a way to manage rising insurance costs while improving out-of-pocket terms for employees. Ledford estimated that, based on current enrollment, the combined premium billing under the proposed dual-plan design would increase about 25% annually; he said the city would not be asked to absorb the entire increase. Instead the proposal would lower the city’s per-employee monthly contribution from $571.96 to $532.71, a reduction Ledford described as roughly a 5% savings and about $45,216 annually for the city.
Details and supporting items: Ledford walked council members through the packet pages showing employee and employer cost breakdowns. He reported a roughly 25% annual increase in combined monthly billing under the “dual plan” scenario but recommended that the city pursue cost-sharing adjustments that yield the 5% employer savings cited.
On dental and vision, Ledford said utilization drove a roughly 10% increase in dental rates (about $5,500 annually) and recommended a modest per-employee increase in the city’s dental contribution; he recommended no change to vision rates or to basic life insurance, and said voluntary life coverage through Mutual of Omaha showed no rate increase absent changes in employees’ age brackets.
Quotes and attributions: “You have to save some money and have a better plan design,” Ledford said, urging the council to consider Option 2 as the recommended path to maintain competitive benefits while managing cost.
What happened next: The transcript records Ledford’s presentation and council questions but does not contain a clear roll-call vote on adoption of the benefit changes. The packet and the consultant’s recommendation were before the council; the transcript does not show a formal motion or final action to adopt the package during the recorded segment.
Ending: Council discussion moved on after the presentation. If the council elects to adopt Option 2 or another package, implementation actions and an effective date were discussed in the presentation (the consultant referenced a July 1, 2025 effective date), but the transcript portion provided does not record a formal approval vote.
