Benefits consultant proposes family-savings replacement, says it could save district hundreds of thousands

Taylor Orton, a Wisconsin-based benefits consultant for Cunningham & Butler, told the school board the districtcould cut health-plan costs by combining a different family-savings product with improved claims management and pharmacy oversight. "We're gonna talk about some very pragmatic health care cost savings initiatives," Orton said during a presentation the board invited the firm to give after an outside review of the district's benefits.

Orton presented a district-specific "report card" and argued two near-term moves could produce immediate savings: replace the district's family-savings plan with Cunningham & Butler's Family Advantage Health Plan to reduce admin fees, and pursue stop-loss and pharmacy interventions. He cited specific numbers during the presentation: "For you guys, every family that moves to this program saves about $27,000," and said the district's dependent ratio (employees plus covered spouses and children divided by employees) is 2.68, above the national average, which contributes to higher per-employee costs. Orton estimated the district could save roughly $100,000 on admin fees and see additional savings — in the low hundreds of thousands — if dependent enrollment falls toward a projected 2.3 ratio.

Board members pressed on employee impacts and implementation details. Orton said some changes are low-disruption (e.g., switching admin vendors or improving outreach) while others carry trade-offs, such as more active management of specialty-drug access. The superintendent and staff said plan design would remain largely unchanged through the end of the year while the board decides whether to proceed and, if so, to notify the current broker (USI) and plan a transition.