Warr Acres switches to OPE Diamond Advantage health plan; council cites lower first-year cost and pooled stability

The Warr Acres City Council voted March 18 to keep the city’s public-employee coverage in the Oklahoma Public Employees (OPE) trust and switch from the Diamond Preferred plan to the new Diamond Advantage plan offered by OPE, effective July 1.

Captain Roger Peters, who represents employees on the city insurance committee, presented the committee’s unanimous recommendation to the council and summarized analysis comparing the OPE option with an alternative broker proposal. Peters said OPE is a large multi-government trust that pools thousands of employees from many jurisdictions, which tends to smooth year-to-year premium swings. The committee reviewed an outside-broker proposal from Insurica that offered a lower first-year sticker estimate but would have moved Warr Acres into a small-group pool, which the committee said could expose the city and employees to much larger rate increases in later years if claims were high.

Peters told the council the committee estimated that switching from Diamond Preferred to Diamond Advantage would reduce the city’s monthly cost for single-employee coverage from about $776.70 to about $660.20, with an estimated city savings of roughly $130,000 in the first year and an estimated employee savings of about $44,000 collectively. The Insurica proposal the committee evaluated carried an estimated first-year cost advantage on paper but, according to the committee, would have placed the city in a smaller pool and could cause larger rate increases in year two.

After discussion, the council voted to accept the insurance committee’s recommendation to remain in the OPE trust and move to the Diamond Advantage plan. Council members and staff said the move preserves the plan benefits employees have relied on for years while lowering year-one costs and keeping the city in a large pooled plan that limits volatility.