Mayor Reese >> here. Council member Ross >> here. >> Nelson here. Gilbertson >> here. >> Gardner >> here. >> Davis here. Butterfield >> here. >> Liz >> here.
>> And Mr. Fragley is absent. So eight present, one absent. >> Stand for the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of America and to the republic for which it stands.
One god, indivisible, liberty and justice for just one agenda item. And who's taking it? I didn't ask Kyle or Leslie. >> Oh, actually, I'm going to let Alyssa take it. >> Okay.
>> HR director collected all this information. >> You guys okay if I Rick? You can all see me. >> There. That's your spot. >> Thanks. Um, good morning. Thanks for coming so
early. Uh, so I think all of you guys know that we got our PEEP renewal back the end of September. This was year one of a four-year contract. Um, so we were not expecting to make any changes to our health insurance for this year, but our
PEP uh contract had an opt out clause if the renewal came back at 20% or above. And it did come back at 20%. So that gave us the opportunity to go out and get quotes from other insurance companies um or
uh for new health insurance. So if you want to go to Yep. Thank you. So um we engaged a broker to go out shopping for us. He did an RFP and we got quotes back um
uses Blue Cross and Health Partners. Uh we got quotes back from them directly that were both well above uh PE's renewal rate. Um Blue Cross came back at 55.6% and Health Partners came back at a 37%
increase from our 2025 premiums. Medicica came back with a 13% increase. And then kind of at the 11th hour, we got um a bid from um MHC, which is the Minnesota Healthcare Consortium. So
there's a whole bunch of entities across the state of Minnesota that pull together for um purchase power of insurance products. So we would access this through the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, which we're already
members of. that gives us access to the Minnesota Healthcare Consortium pool and that policy came back at just a 7% increase over our 2025. So that's the contract that we're bringing to you guys today to approve um in addition to being
the best rate. Next slide. Um it gives us more flexibility in what we can actually offer our employees as well. So, we won't be locked into just a single plan that has single and family coverage. Um,
we would actually be able to offer not only a plan that's pretty equivalent to what we would have offered through PEEP, but we have two other plans available to employees as well, depending on what's a better fit for them. So, for example, there's a higher deductible, lower premium plan if employees want to take
that cheaper option. Um, there are different combinations of deductible and out-of pocket. And we were able to split the plans up into four tiers. So instead of just single or family coverage, we'll be able to offer employee plus children or employee plus spouse coverage, which
also is a better rate than family. Um, so you can see this kind of a comparison of what that PE plan uh would have been for this year and the three plans that we're planning to offer through the Minnesota Healthcare Consortium, which does youth Medicica.
It's also an open access network. Right now with PEEP, employees have to name a primary care clinic and if they go anybody outside of that clinic, they have to have a referral. Medicica uses an open access network. So anybody that's in network with Medicica, which
would be the majority of providers around the state, employees can go see. They don't have to get referrals every time they have to go see somebody about a knee or a dermatologist or a, you know, whatever. >> So central here does except >> Yep. Yep.
So, that's what we're proposing today. That's the resolution that you guys have. Um, one other additional thing we'd like to add on to that plan is an employee assistance program for 2025. We have a version of this through the standard, which is where we had our
ancillary benefits. So, our life insurance and all of those kinds of things. We had already switched away from them for 2026 because we were able to get better rates on all of those benefits. Um, but the one thing we lost was an employee assistance program through them. Um, Medicica allows us to
add that on for just a $180 per employee. So, that would get added on to the premium and that offers employees the opportunity to go see um, usually virtually a counselor for anything from like mental health and substance abuse
issues to things like going through a divorce or my child's struggling in school, that kind of thing. They can get up to five sessions per event for free for them or family members. Um there's financial planning assistance. They can help um people find child care or elder
care. Quite a few different um nurses and additional support to employees. Um with the idea that besides supporting our employees, when people have access to those kind of services, it helps keep them out of like the ER for example.
They can get mental health counseling, that kind of thing. So for an almost invisible cost compared to the overall premium, um we'd like to add on that additional service to the plan as well for employees. >> Questions?
>> Yeah. Um so it seems to me you found us the plan that's that's far cheaper than the alternatives that seems better than what we currently have at least gives employees better option. Uh, what objections might you foresee coming from employees who would find the older plan
better? What do you What do we hear? >> Honestly, other than that they have a different insurance card, they're not going to notice a change. We're even able to keep our same HSA administrator, so we don't even have to switch where their HSA dollars go. So, I don't
anticipate a complaint. Um there's there's more plan options for those people that have been paying the family rate for just themselves and their spouse. They'll be able to get a cheaper plan. Um for those people that rarely go to the doctor and would rather take that high deductible plan and have a low
premium. So I mean there will be a a slight increase in premium because there is every year with healthcare and they're never happy about that. But their experience really changed. So, it's it was hard for
me to imagine what what those complaints hold to me. I don't see any. >> What's your experience? >> Well, it sounds better if you ask me. So, I don't >> It's a better plan. Like, we didn't give up any coverage for the price. We didn't
have to say, "Okay, we're really restricting our network or whatever in order to get something reasonably priced." It's actually a better plan, better coverage, better network for the price once we went out on the open market and shopping. >> Um, yeah,
>> out of the $154,000 increase uh from last year's costs, how much of that will be on the city and how much of that will be on the >> That will depend on negotiations. So that's to to be determined still based
on what the union contracts end up being >> in the event that they are identical to last year. What is burnt down? >> No, we can't answer that because that's part of negotiations. >> Sorry, >> I guess. Okay.
Currently, what percentage of the health insurance premiums is covered by the employees? currently 11%. >> Thank you. >> I will note one other thing about this plan. Uh they gave us a secondyear rate
guarantee not to exceed a 15% increase. We would actually hope for something better and we're not locked into a contract the way that we were with PE. So they'll give us a renewal based on the market at that time and our claims and we can go shopping again. But worst
case scenario is our rate cannot exceed 15% increase for 2027. >> Any other questions? >> We are not I I have >> we are not locked in. So they gave us a cap on the rate but it's not a contract. We can go shopping at the end of the next year.
They're going to be asked to select us, but if they're part of a union, they don't really know. I mean, they have to select one of these three. >> Yes. Exactly. >> Based off on what their healthcare needs are.
>> Yes. The employer contribution will be the same for all three plans. The employee then chooses whether they want to put their own dollars into a higher premium or a higher deductible. Thank you. So, we don't know exactly what that employer contribution is yet, but it
will be the same no matter which plan they pick. So, the difference in the cost of the plans would be their real savings no matter what. >> Steve has a question. >> What percentage increase did we assume in our budget projection that this was going to, you know, I assume we assumed
some type of increase to this 20%. So, that in theory, this helps drive down the budget a little bit. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Any other questions? Other words, I'm looking for a motion to
approve the 2026 health insurance. >> Second motion and a second. Discussion. Any further discussion? Roll call. Council >> member Os. Hi. Nelson. Hi. Gilbertson.
Hi. >> Gardner. Hi. Davis I Butterfield >> I and >> Shelus I >> seven eyes's zero nos to second we are just broke