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Dunedin staff recommends flat‑dollar employee contributions, stop‑loss increase to curb health‑cost spike
Summary
Facing a projected double‑digit premium jump, staff recommended a flat‑dollar employee premium contribution and modest plan design changes while raising the stop‑loss threshold to capture premium savings; the Board of Finance supported the approach.
City human-resources and risk director Teresa Smalling outlined a three‑year approach to limit the city's health‑benefit exposure as plan claims rise. Staff proposed modest increases to deductibles and out‑of‑pocket maximums for the base and buy‑up plans, no changes to the high‑deductible plan, and a flat‑dollar per‑pay employee contribution (Option 3) intended to preserve the high‑deductible incentive while lowering the city's share of the increase.
"Staff recommendation is to go with the flat dollar increase," Smalling said, and the Board of Finance chair Kathy Harvey told commissioners the board concurred. Consultants explained stop‑loss mechanics and the tradeoff: raising the per‑person stop‑loss to a higher threshold reduces premium expense but increases the city's exposure to a very large claimant. Staff said historical claim patterns and the current caseload support increasing the stop‑loss (staff proposed an incremental change) to capture premium savings while accepting limited additional risk.
Commissioners requested benchmarking with Pinellas County and asked staff to survey employees about preferences for pay vs. benefits. Staff will issue an RFP and bring formal adoption actions for plan design changes and any employee contribution schedule.
