Forest Park council approves health-plan renewal with narrower cost changes; city picks option to limit employee payroll impact

Forest Park Mayor and Council voted April 21 to approve the city's annual major medical benefits renewal for fiscal year 2025'26, choosing the package the city manager recommended that would produce an estimated 4.7% net increase.

The move adopts the renewal package presented by the city's broker, MSI Benefits Group, represented at the meeting by John Leggett. Leggett told the council Cigna, the city's current carrier for medical, dental and vision plans, originally underwrote a 16.43% increase but offered lower renewal options: a 12% renewal if the city marketed the plan and a non-marketing offer of about 7% if the city did not go to market. Leggett described recent claims activity as the driver: "Most recently, we're running at 94%" loss ratio, he said, summarizing March 2023 through January 2025 claims and premium activity.

Why it matters: the council chose an option that Councilman James characterized in her motion as the city manager's recommendation and that the council said would address equity among plan tiers while limiting payroll impacts for many employees. The package keeps the existing three-plan structure and seeks to contain the immediate budget effect while keeping competitive benefits.

Key details - Enrollment and claims: Leggett reported enrollment of 38 employees in Plan 1 (a narrower HMO network), 97 in Plan 2 and 42 in Plan 3. He said the city paid roughly $5.3 million in premiums in the most recent 12 months while the carrier paid just over $5.0 million in claims, producing the 94% loss ratio. - Proposed options: The broker outlined multiple scenarios. Option 2 aligned to a non-marketing 7% medical increase (overall roughly 7.7% when dental and vision adjustments are included). Option 3, the council-approved package, was described as a combination of making the medical deductions cost-neutral for some tiers, maintaining dental deductions as currently structured, and switching basic life insurance carriers to Standard; Leggett summarized that choice as producing about a 4.7% overall increase. Option 4 showed a lower headline percentage (about 3.7%) under a different mix of dental/vision employer contributions. - Dental and vision: Leggett said dental premiums produced a larger requested increase (about 21%) driven by claims. Vision renewals were described as roughly an 8% increase. The city's options included having employees pay more of family dental coverage or the city subsidize part of it; the council's choice kept a mix designed to reduce the city's net outlay while avoiding large immediate payroll deductions for most employees. - Timeline and implementation: Leggett and staff said the plan renewal would take effect July 1 and that HR would manage open enrollment, benefit guides and town-hall meetings in the coming months.

Discussion and vote Councilors asked about precise percentages and budget impact. Councilman Mears asked why some staff documents listed ranges rather than exact dollar figures; staff explained the packet summarized options while detailed, penny-level figures were included in internal worksheets. The council voted unanimously to approve the option recommended by the city manager (recorded as Option 3 in the staff presentation), with Councilwoman James making the motion.

What the council did not decide Councilors did not direct staff to change carriers immediately or to market the plan this renewal cycle; staff explained the city had chosen not to go to market because of the risk that competing bids could still result in a 12% renewal from the incumbent carrier.

Ending City staff will finalize plan documents and proceed with employee outreach and open enrollment ahead of the July 1 renewal date.