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Berwyn insurance broker recommends renewal after negotiating health increase to 22%
Summary
Berwyn’s insurance broker told the council that rising national health-care costs and a small number of long-running high-value claims pushed initial renewal quotes above 25%; after negotiations the broker said he cut the renewal to 22% and recommended renewing all existing lines of coverage.
Philip Toca, who identified himself as a representative of Berwyn Insurance and Financial Services, told the Committee of the Whole that rising national health-care costs and a handful of long-running, large claims have driven this year’s renewal quotes higher.
"Blue Cross came in with 25.8% to start," Toca said, adding that he negotiated the renewal down by 3.8 percentage points to 22%. He told the council that other large employers are seeing increases in the 12%–16% range but that groups of this size often face 25% or greater renewals.
Toca attributed part of the higher cost to "12 ongoing large claims" that have been open for several years and to a general rise in medical costs. He said he shopped the plan to competitors; UnitedHealthcare quoted 24% with lesser benefits, and Aetna and Cigna declined to offer a better package at lower cost.
On dental coverage, Toca said employees had complained the prior plan’s benefits were insufficient. He said Delta Dental proposed richer benefits at roughly a 21.97% higher cost, so he worked with Aetna to "copy the benefits exactly" and secure a rate-cap guarantee for the next year. He outlined specific changes: the PPO annual maximum would rise from $1,000 to $2,000, coinsurance for major services would increase (from 50% to 80% for some items), and the under-20 orthodontic benefit would increase from $1,500 to $2,000.
Vision and life rates, Toca said, carry no rate change and are guaranteed through 2029.
When aldermen asked what the city could do locally to mitigate future increases, Toca pointed to Blue Cross wellness programs and other plan-level efforts to lower claims. "If we can bring the claims down, at the very least, we can hit the trend, which is more bearable than a 20% plus increase," he said.
Toca recommended the council "renew all existing lines of insurance" and told members union representatives had been asked to attend the April approval meeting so they could explain the impact to employees, including changes to employee contributions.
The presentation ended with the mayor’s office confirming the renewal will return for an April vote.
Next steps: the insurance renewal will return to the council in April for formal approval and any associated changes to employee contributions will be reviewed with union representatives.
