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Council affirms staff recommendation to join GMA health plan; members debate employer cost share
Summary
After a staff presentation on proposed 2025 medical coverage, the City Council authorized participation in the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) life and health program and affirmed staff plan recommendations. Council members debated whether the city should absorb more employee premium costs or preserve funds for pay increases.
City staff recommended—and the Milledgeville City Council authorized—participation in the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) employee life and health program for calendar year 2025 and affirmed staff recommendations on plan options during the Sept. 10 meeting.
City Manager Griffin introduced HR Director Sandra Witherspoon, who outlined proposed plan options including combinations of PPO and POS products. Witherspoon said one proposed configuration raised the employee deductible to $2,000 and adjusted dependent cost sharing; that option produced a net 8% increase in city costs. A second approach that would offer two POS options and absorb some employee premiums produced a net 1% increase compared with the current year, she said.
Council members questioned the wisdom of the city absorbing employee premiums for POS plans and whether employees would prefer pay raises instead. One councilmember said she would "think that the employees would rather see us put that money back into salaries for salary increases for next year rather than, doing that." Staff responded that providing a fully paid employee premium on one POS option might encourage employees to choose the POS plan and that GMA would provide education sessions before open enrollment in October.
Witherspoon provided enrollment counts used in modeling: about 90 employees in the employee‑only tier (9 over age 61), 20 employee+spouse enrollments, 26 employee+children enrollments covering 41 dependents, and 19 family enrollments covering 19 spouses and 44 children. She also gave estimated biweekly deduction impacts if the city did not absorb employee shares: roughly $6 per pay period for employee‑only coverage up to about $83 per pay period for family coverage.
Council raised implementation and communication needs: staff said GMA representatives and brokers will conduct information sessions to help employees compare PPO and POS networks and determine whether employees' current physicians remain covered under the POS option. Staff stated Anthem would remain the carrier and that the city was continuing broker interviews for 2026 options.
On the resolution to participate in GMA and adopt the recommended plan, the council adopted R‑2409‑43 by roll call. Miss Schindholster recorded a "No" vote, saying she was "not voting against the process. Just the plan."
