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Ascension Parish board approves renewal of group health, vision, life, workers’ comp and student accident insurance
Summary
The Ascension Parish board approved renewals across five employee insurance programs after staff presented data showing rising participation, lower net plan cost after rebates, and a projected $59 million all-in health plan cost for next fiscal year; the board said it will absorb the deficit rather than pass costs to employees.
At a June 5, 2026 meeting, the Ascension Parish board voted to renew the parish’s group health, vision, basic life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), workers’ compensation and student accident insurance plans following staff presentations and discussion.
Hub, the parish’s benefits consultant, summarized plan performance and renewal recommendations, saying, “our participation is up 12% over the past five years,” a gain of roughly 400 participants, and noting medical claims per employee fell about 2.2% while prescription claims rose about 7.7%—below a national prescription trend of roughly 13%.
Staff outlined the parish’s fiscal exposure for the current plan year: $47 million in paid claims plus an estimated $16 million in projected claims for April through June (about $63 million total), reduced by pharmacy rebates and reinsurance recoveries (roughly $10 million), leaving net paid and projected costs near $53 million. With fixed costs, conservative rebate assumptions and a budget allowance for inflation (roughly 4% for medical and 6% for pharmacy), staff presented an all-in planning figure of about $59 million for the next fiscal year.
A committee member asked whether that projected deficit would be passed on to employees; the board replied it would absorb the cost in its budget rather than shift it to employees. Jeremy, a parish staff member, and Hub staff confirmed that prior adjustments to employee contributions (one prior increase of $10 per month for active employees and $5 for retirees) are being annualized in next year’s budget and that the prior pass-throughs were limited.
On formal action, the board recorded and approved the following motions by voice vote: - Renew current group health insurance (mover: Miss Woodland; second: Mr. Francis) — approved. - Renew group vision insurance, no change to employee cost or network (mover in transcript: Mr. Fances; second: Miss Bulwin) — approved; carrier noted in materials as moving to “Ameritus”/Ameritas-style vendor but with no employee impact. - Renew employer-paid basic life and AD&D coverage despite a roughly 25% premium increase (from about $60,000/month to $75,000/month, driven largely by retiree loss ratios) (mover in transcript: Miss Bcept; second: Mr. Francis) — approved. - Renew workers’ compensation with Summit after comparing Summit to LWCC (staff recommended Summit given lower pricing and favorable loss-control performance; motion by Miss Bluen) — approved. - Renew student accident insurance (increase from $254,454.78 last year to about $260,398.27 this year, attributed to an uptick in claims) (mover: Mr. Francis; second: Mr. Lambert) — approved.
During questions, Hub emphasized that reinsurance and pharmacy rebates materially reduce the parish’s net plan cost: the presenter stated the top 10 most expensive prescriptions account for about 47% of prescription costs and that reinsurance reimbursements increase when high-cost claimants exceed attachment points. Staff also called out that operating costs for the Ascension plan are about $0.08 per dollar versus a cited national trend of about $0.15.
The meeting included additional informational items: a voluntary supplemental life option at employee expense (no rate change for employees) and a roughly 10% decrease in voluntary disability premiums for employees who elect that coverage. No new actions beyond the renewals were taken; the board closed the insurance portion of the agenda and moved to remaining business.
Votes at a glance: renewals for group health, vision, basic life/AD&D, workers’ compensation and student accident insurance were each approved by voice vote during the meeting.
