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Council hears recommendation on city employee health plan; places renewal on consent agenda
Summary
City benefits consultants reviewed the employee health plan renewal and stop-loss options, recommending retention of a $50,000 specific stop-loss and discussing a possible PPO switch (Health Link to Aetna) that consultants estimated could save roughly $380,000 but raise fixed costs; council voted to place the renewal on the consent agenda for final action next week.
Consultants from Danzig and the city's benefits team presented a high-level overview of the city's employee health insurance experience and renewal options.
Andrea Leinbach (Danzig) reviewed utilization, claims and provider networks, noting year-to-date plan data through October and highlighting that 7% of the membership drives about 23% of costs. She described two vendor scenarios: keeping the current Health Link PPO network or switching to Aetna (a larger, national network that would include OSF providers in-network). Leinbach and staff presented stop-loss renewal sheets showing a $50,000 specific limit and compared fixed and aggregate costs across scenarios.
Staff and consultants said switching to Aetna could increase some fixed costs (administrative and stop-loss premiums) but provide deeper provider discounts and broader in-network access; they estimated potential savings of approximately $380,000 from network discounts in a projected scenario. Scott (staff) said projected plan costs would be around $3.5 million and stressed maintaining roughly $2 million in the health fund due to self-insurance.
After questions, the mayor suggested placing the renewal on the consent agenda for next week's council meeting. A motion to place the item on consent passed on a roll-call "all ayes" vote.
Next steps: the renewal will appear on the consent agenda at next week's council meeting for final consideration; staff will return with proposed premium recommendations as part of the budget process.
