Jeffersontown council approves first reading to move employee health plan from Anthem to Cigna

Mayor Pike and the Jeffersontown City Council voted to approve first reading of a resolution to switch the city's employee medical insurance from Anthem to Cigna, citing a costly Anthem renewal. "We're gonna go from Anthem to Cigna," Mayor Pike said, noting Anthem's renewal request would have increased the city's cost by roughly $162,754.

Chip, the benefits consultant working with the city, told council members Cigna's pricing was the most competitive in the marketplace and that the broker negotiated several benefit changes. Chip said Cigna's proposal came in about 0.5% below the city's current cost and about an 11.5% premium spread versus Anthem's renewal. Under the Cigna proposal, the city would move to a level-funded contract: "written on self insured paper, but it works and operates like a fully insured program," Chip said, explaining the arrangement fixes monthly funding…