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Johns Creek staff recommends keeping Cigna, adding city-funded HRA as part of 2026 benefits renewal
Summary
Assistant City Manager Kaye Love told the council staff recommends renewing medical/vision/dental with Cigna and keeping The Standard for disability and life coverage, proposing a city-funded HRA costing about $150,000 to reimburse employee deductible expenses and help limit out-of-pocket costs.
Assistant City Manager Kaye Love presented the city’s health and other benefits renewal at a Johns Creek City Council work session on Oct. 20, saying staff recommends remaining with Cigna for medical, vision and dental and The Standard for short- and long-term disability and life insurance. “We are recommending to remain with Cigna as well as standard,” Love said.
Love described the renewal as a calendar-year plan with open enrollment in November and said brokers returned equivalent pricing for a level-funded option and a fully insured option, describing level funding as a hybrid that provides more claims visibility. “There was no difference in the fully insured or the level funding plan,” she said. As part of the recommendation, staff proposes layering on a health reimbursement account (HRA) to reimburse employees’ out-of-pocket deductible expenses; Love estimated the city cost at about $150,000 and said there would be no employee charge for the HRA.
The presentation included staff estimates of budgetary impacts: Love said the city could realize roughly $1,000,000 in health premium savings and about $46,000 on dental relative to budgeted amounts, based on the snapshot used for proposals. She also described improved claims ratios in 2025 compared with 2024 and cautioned renewals can vary year to year depending on claims experience.
Council members pressed staff on pharmacy formularies and coverage of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Love said some drugs requested by employees were added after negotiation but not all; she cited Ozempic as an example of a drug that remains excluded on the formulary, and explained that fully insured plan designs limit the city’s direct control over formularies. Love told the council that moving to level funding gives more claims data to target wellness initiatives but is not equivalent to full self-funding.
Council members also asked for follow-up details staff committed to provide after the meeting, including participation numbers for wellness programs, a clearer breakdown of the $150,000 HRA estimate (one council member referenced $143,000 as shown in the memo), and a historical comparison of employer cost-sharing. Love said she would circulate the underlying numbers and the snapshots used for the broker proposals.
The staff recommendation will be brought to the full council meeting in two weeks for formal approval and to allow staff to execute contracts and begin open enrollment.
