Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Benefits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City plans RFP for employee medical and ancillary benefits; HR cites roughly $21 million current spend
Summary
Human Resources outlined a request-for-proposal strategy for the city’s self-funded medical plan and other employee benefits, reporting current annual health plan spend at about $21 million and an RFP timeline to align with an Oct. 1 open enrollment.
City Human Resources staff told the council they will issue a request for proposals for the city’s medical, prescription, dental, vision and employee-assistance plans, and summarized the city’s current benefits spending and enrollment.
Jim Parrish, the city’s human resources director, introduced Olivia Neha as the benefits manager who will run the RFP process. Parrish said the city’s health-plan spend is about $21 million annually, of which roughly $18 million is for medical services and drugs and about $3 million for administrative fees and stop-loss. He said roughly 1,100 employees are enrolled across plans and the total covered lives figure (employees plus dependents) was described in the meeting as on the order of several thousand.
Parrish said the city is self-funded and has used Cigna for more than 10 years; the city recently engaged Hub International as broker and is issuing the RFP to check market options. The RFP is planned to be released the week of the meeting, with staff hoping to receive as many as 10 responses and to complete vendor selection by July so new plan details will be ready for the city’s Oct. 1 open-enrollment period. Parrish said the city will follow in 2025 with a stop-loss RFP and other ancillary benefits procurement (life, disability, FSA, retiree coverages).
Council members asked for enrollment and contribution details; Parrish stated the city contributes $2,000 to employees’ health savings accounts (HSA) and described the family deductible for the high-deductible HSA-compatible plan as approximately $6,500, with the city’s front-loaded contribution intended to reduce employee anxiety early in the year. Parrish described recent claims trends for the city as better than national averages (city trending at 2.5% last year versus national two-year trends nearer 7–9%).
