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Council renews city employee medical plan with Cigna after negotiations; effective Oct. 1
Summary
City approved renewal of employee medical and dental benefits with Cigna for plan year beginning Oct. 1; negotiations reduced an initial 33% premium increase to 15%, with plan design options projected to lower the effective increase to about 11.2% depending on employee plan migration.
Human Resources Director Stephanie Ayers presented the city's proposed employee benefit renewals for FY2026–27 and introduced HUB International consultant Andrew Wiger, who walked council through carrier responses and negotiated terms. Wiger said the plan experienced a 110% loss ratio over the last 12 months and that Cigna initially proposed a 33% premium increase before negotiations.
"We secured a 15% renewal increase with no plan design changes with—well, actually, one minor plan design modification," Wiger said, noting Cigna also offered the city more than $35,000 in allowance dollars to support wellness and engagement efforts. Wiger said Aetna's best and final offer was about a 25.8% increase, and that moving employees into a new "Local Plus" network option could bring the modeled effective increase down to about 11.2% depending on migration.
Wiger provided enrollment figures (297 total subscribers) and annualized current premium of about $4.1 million. He said dental received a rate pass and a 5% rate cap for the following year. After questions about loss drivers and market trends, council moved to approve the recommendation to renew with Cigna and to offer the new plan design options; the motion passed unanimously.
