Siegel tells Joplin City Council medical premiums to rise 1.1% for 2026; city projects $235,000 surplus

At an Oct. 6 informal session of the Joplin City Council, Kim Wicksen, a benefits consultant with Siegel, told council members the city’s medical plan is projected to rise 1.1% in 2026 while the employee health plan is forecast to finish 2025 with an operating surplus of about $235,000.

Wicksen opened the presentation by saying she had “good news,” and walked the council through results from this year’s insurance request for proposals and how those results feed into the city’s budget projections. She told the council that, because of the RFP work and wellness efforts, Joplin’s increases have been below market averages in recent years.

The presentation listed the actuarial assumptions behind the projections: Siegel used a 7% medical trend for 2026 and a 12% trend for prescription drugs, and noted that prescription drug rebates are paid in arrears and some rebates for the 2026 plan year will not be received until 2027. Wicksen cautioned that high-cost claimants can affect renewals but said current high-cost claims are moderate.

Wicksen summarized proposed 2026 rates by line. She reported overall medical premiums would increase 1.1% for 2026. Dental rates, she said, average about 10% under the RFP results (reported as roughly 9.3% for single coverage and about 11.6% for family coverage), and vision contribution rates will remain unchanged. The presentation also included a stop‑loss renewal assumption of 15% in the budget while the actual stop‑loss quote remains pending; stop‑loss carriers typically require nine months of data before giving a firm renewal.

The consultant recapped the city’s contribution formulas: the city pays 100% of projected single medical coverage and 75% of family medical coverage; for dental the city contributes about 70% toward employee coverage and 65% toward family coverage; life AD&D coverage is set at 1.5 times annual salary; vision is voluntary and paid fully by employees.

Wicksen laid out key RFP outcomes and carrier changes: UMR/Optum will be retained on stop‑loss, MetLife will replace Delta as the dental carrier and will replace Symetra for life insurance, and MetLife offered a multi‑line discount that reduced dental rates further (Siegel reported an additional ~2% off dental as a result). She said a 7% rate cap will apply for dental in 2027 (the cap may be lower but not exceed 7%).

On voluntary benefits, Wicksen said MetLife proposed critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity products at competitive rates and the city plans to offer them if the online enrollment vendor BenTech can support those products; final confirmation from BenTech was pending. She added that voluntary benefits would be employee‑paid.

During questions, Council member Dieter asked whether the critical‑illness product covers cancer, heart attack and stroke. Wicksen confirmed that critical‑illness coverage would include cancer, heart attack and stroke, and also cited other covered events such as burns and coma.

There were no formal actions or votes at the informal session. The mayor thanked Wicksen for the presentation; the informal session concluded and the regular meeting was scheduled to resume at 6:00 p.m.