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Broker urges Dickinson to simplify plans, drop 'nonstop health' debit-card product
Summary
Higginbotham recommended removing a layered "nonstop health" product and an HRA, consolidating to a three-tier structure (3,000 HMO; 3,500 HSA; 2,500 buy-up PPO), and adjusting employer contributions to encourage lower-cost plan selection.
Higginbotham told the Dickinson council the current benefits program is "very complex" and recommended simplifying it to a traditional three-tier structure: a $3,000 HMO base plan, a $3,500 HSA mid plan and a $2,500 buy-up PPO. "So recommendations is eliminating the non stop health, eliminating the HRA entirely as well, and just restructuring as a traditional program," Bridal Bishop said during the presentation.
The broker said removing the nonstop debit-card product would make out-of-pocket costs more transparent and help drive better long-term member behavior; they also recommended changing employer contributions (for example, reducing the PPO employee-only contribution from about 92% to 80%) to create a genuine buy-up. Council members and staff asked follow-up questions about how many employees are on each plan and how the changes would affect monthly costs.
