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Finance Committee flags health-insurance assumptions in ALG model
Summary
Committee members questioned the ALG model's health-insurance projections, with one member saying normalizing to historical experience could reduce the projected shortfall by roughly $1 million in 2026 and about $4.3 million in 2027; staff said final insurer rates are expected in early 2026.
During liaison reports the committee examined the ALG (Advisory Liaison Group) fiscal model and raised concerns that projected health-insurance costs in the model may be overstated.
Speaker 1 said she adjusted the ALG slide deck to compare historical percentages of health-insurance spending and concluded the model likely overstates health-insurance costs by roughly $1 million for fiscal 2026 and about $4.3 million for fiscal 2027 if the model's projections are normalized to recent experience. "When you normalize the health-insurance projection to what we've experienced historically, [the budgets] wouldn't be negative," Speaker 1 said.
Staff responded that some unspent health-insurance budget in FY26 is expected to turn back and that insurer (Maya) rates are typically finalized in January or February; Speaker 10 told the committee staff are still working with the best available information and that final rate notices are pending.
Committee members asked for the underlying spreadsheet and source data used to build the ALG projections. Speaker 1 said she had requested the raw numbers and will follow up at the ALG meeting on Thursday to seek clarification and supporting detail.
Members agreed to press for data and to use normalized historical baselines when preparing scenario analyses for Town Meeting and budget planning.
