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Council hears 14% health‑insurance renewal; staff recommends minor plan tweaks and passive open enrollment
Summary
Staff briefed the council on health‑insurance renewal proposals showing a roughly 14% increase and recommended keeping current carriers and plan designs with a change to the copay plan to remove a $500 prescription deductible; staff proposed passive open enrollment and employee education before Oct. 1.
City human‑resources staff told the council that health‑insurance renewals for the coming year came back with an approximate 14 percent premium increase. After reviewing several carriers and plan designs, staff recommended staying with the city’s current carrier mix to minimize change management and disruption for employees.
The staff noted one suggested tweak to the co‑pay plan: removing a $500 prescription deductible that many employees disliked. Implementing that tweak would shift some cost to the medical deductible (the proposal discussed would increase the medical deductible modestly), but staff said the change could simplify how prescription costs are handled and could make the plan easier for employees to understand.
Staff also recommended a passive open‑enrollment approach—carriers would carry forward employee elections from the prior year unless an employee opts to change coverage—and proposed an employee information session before enrollment opens. The council indicated acceptance of staff’s recommendation and asked staff to finalize plan documents for open enrollment ahead of an Oct. 1 effective date.
Council also discussed options for increasing city HSA match levels (proposed increases were included in the budget packet) and the council indicated interest in leaving those budgeted amounts in place pending final budget adoption.
