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County staff recommend keeping Cigna as medical carrier; three‑year rate cap and wellness fund proposed
Summary
Staff recommended keeping Cigna as the county medical carrier after an RFP, with a proposed 6% renewal, a three‑year rate proposal that caps increases in years two and three (about 10.5% cap), an $80,000 annual wellness fund and one‑time premium credits to ease budget timing.
Tammy Nun, Gloucester County director of human resources, and consultant Heidi Steinberg of USI presented the results of an employee benefits request for proposals and recommended continuing with Cigna for medical coverage.
Nun introduced the RFP process and Steinberg told the board the analysis used a rolling 12 months of claims data (February 2025–January 2026). She said the county experienced an increase last year "of I think it was about 12 and a half%" but that gross claims have decreased and the gross loss ratio improved to roughly 97% of premium; excluding stop‑loss large claims, the net loss ratio sits near 87%.
The selection committee (Tammy Nun and Heather Kelly, with oversight by Christine Joyce) narrowed finalists to Sentara, Cigna and Anthem. Steinberg said the committee is recommending Cigna for medical coverage with a proposed overall 6% premium increase at renewal and a "three‑year solution that gives us a rate cap in year two and three," which she summarized as a cap of roughly 10.5% for the second and third years. Cigna also proposed an $80,000 annual wellness fund and a first‑month $130,000 premium credit the county could take as an offset for plan administration and budgeting timing.
Steinberg described plan design features Cigna offered for the high‑deductible option that would allow some individuals to retain a lower deductible than other offers, and she said the committee recommended remaining with Delta Dental for dental (no change to cost) and moving vision coverage to a Delta/VSP arrangement with a three‑year rate guarantee and embedded hearing discounts. For voluntary disability the recommendation was CHUB, which would permit true open enrollment without medical questions in a future year.
Supervisors asked questions about enrollment (Steinberg said the roster is roughly 281–285 employees), whether combining the county and school pools was considered (Steinberg said the school system is self‑insured through Anthem and Local Choice did not bid), and whether an actuarial study of combining pools could be done (USI said actuarial services could be added to a strategic initiative to model that). Board members also asked about contract exit terms for a multi‑year cap; staff said fully insured contracts typically allow cancellation but moving to or from self‑insured arrangements is more complex.
The presentation concluded with staff noting the committee weighed price, network disruption, wellness and guarantees when recommending the finalist.
