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Mayor Reese
>> here. Council member Ross

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» here.
>> Nelson here. Gilbertson

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» here.
>> Gardner

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» here.
>> Davis here. Butterfield

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» here.
>> Liz

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» here.
>> And Mr. Fragley is absent.

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So eight present, one absent.
>> Stand for the pledge.

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I pledge algiance to the flag of America
and to the republic for which it stands.

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One god, indivisible, liberty and
justice for [clears throat]

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just one agenda item. And who's taking
it? I didn't ask Kyle or Leslie.

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» Oh, actually, I'm going to let Alyssa
take it.

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» Okay.
>> HR director collected all this

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information.
>> You guys okay if I Rick? You can all see

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me.
>> There. That's your spot.

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» Thanks. [laughter]
Um, good morning. Thanks for coming so

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early. Uh, so I think all of you guys
know that we got our PEEP renewal back

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the end of September. This was year one
of a four-year contract. Um, so we were

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not expecting to make any changes to our
health insurance for this year, but our

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PEP uh contract had an opt out clause if
the renewal came back at 20% or above.

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And it did come back at 20%. So that
gave us the opportunity to go out and

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get quotes from other insurance
companies um or

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uh for new health insurance. So if you
want to go to

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Yep. Thank you. So um we engaged a
broker to go out shopping for us. He did

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an RFP
and we got quotes back um

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uses Blue Cross and Health Partners. Uh
we got quotes back from them directly

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that were both well above uh PE's
renewal rate. Um Blue Cross came back at

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55.6%
and Health Partners came back at a 37%

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increase from our 2025 premiums.
Medicica came back with a 13% increase.

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And then kind of at the 11th hour, we
got um a bid from um MHC, which is the

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Minnesota Healthcare Consortium. So
there's a whole bunch of entities across

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the state of Minnesota that pull
together for um purchase power of

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insurance products. So we would access
this through the Southwest West Central

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Service Cooperative, which we're already
members of. that gives us access to the

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Minnesota Healthcare Consortium pool and
that policy came back at just a 7%

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increase over our 2025. So that's the
contract that we're bringing to you guys

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today to approve um in addition to being
the best rate.

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Next slide. Um it gives us more
flexibility in what we can actually

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offer our employees as well. So, we
won't be locked into just a single plan

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that has single and family coverage. Um,
we would actually be able to offer not

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only a plan that's pretty equivalent to
what we would have offered through PEEP,

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but we have two other plans available to
employees as well, depending on what's a

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better fit for them. So, for example,
there's a higher deductible, lower

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premium plan if employees want to take
that cheaper option. Um, there are

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different combinations of deductible and
out-of pocket. And we were able to split

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the plans up into four tiers. So instead
of just single or family coverage, we'll

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be able to offer employee plus children
or employee plus spouse coverage, which

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also is a better rate than family.
Um, so you can see this kind of a

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comparison of what that PE plan uh would
have been for this year and the three

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plans that we're planning to offer
through the Minnesota Healthcare

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Consortium, which does youth Medicica.
It's also an open access network. Right

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now with PEEP, employees have to name a
primary care clinic and if they go

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anybody outside of that clinic, they
have to have a referral. Medicica uses

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an open access network. So anybody
that's in network with Medicica, which

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would be the majority of providers
around the state, employees can go see.

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They don't have to get referrals every
time they have to go see somebody about

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a knee or a dermatologist or a, you
know, whatever.

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» So central here does except
>> Yep. Yep.

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So, that's what we're proposing today.
That's the resolution that you guys

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have. Um, one other additional thing
we'd like to add on to that plan is an

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employee assistance program for 2025. We
have a version of this through the

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standard, which is where we had our
ancillary benefits. So, our life

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insurance and all of those kinds of
things. We had already switched away

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from them for 2026 because we were able
to get better rates on all of those

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benefits. Um, but the one thing we lost
was an employee assistance program

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through them. Um, Medicica allows us to
add that on for just a $180 per

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employee. So, that would get added on to
the premium and that offers employees

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the opportunity to go see um, usually
virtually a counselor for anything from

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like mental health and substance abuse
issues to things like going through a

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divorce or my child's struggling in
school, that kind of thing. They can get

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up to five sessions per event for free
for them or family members. Um there's

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financial planning assistance. They can
help um people find child care or elder

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care. Quite a few different um nurses
and additional support to employees. Um

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with the idea that besides supporting
our employees, when people have access

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to those kind of services, it helps keep
them out of like the ER for example.

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They can get mental health counseling,
that kind of thing. So for an almost

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invisible cost compared to the overall
premium, um we'd like to add on that

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additional service to the plan as well
for employees.

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» Questions?

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» Yeah. Um so it seems to me you found us
the plan that's that's far cheaper than

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the alternatives that seems better than
what we currently have at least gives

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employees better option. Uh, what
objections might you foresee coming from

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employees who would find the older plan
better? What do you What do we hear?

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» Honestly, other than that they have a
different insurance card, they're not

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going to notice a change. We're even
able to keep our same HSA administrator,

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so we don't even have to switch where
their HSA dollars go. So, I don't

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anticipate a complaint. Um there's
there's more plan options for those

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people that have been paying the family
rate for just themselves and their

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spouse. They'll be able to get a cheaper
plan. Um for those people that rarely go

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to the doctor and would rather take that
high deductible plan and have a low

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premium.
So I mean there will be a a slight

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increase in premium because there is
every year with healthcare and they're

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never happy about that. But their
experience

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really changed. So, it's it was hard for
me to imagine what what those complaints

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hold to me. I don't see any.

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» What's your experience? [laughter]
>> Well, it sounds better if you ask me.

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So, I don't
>> It's a better plan. Like, we didn't give

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up any coverage for the price. We didn't
have to say, "Okay, we're really

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restricting our network or whatever in
order to get something reasonably

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priced." It's actually a better plan,
better coverage, better network for the

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price once we went out on the open
market and shopping.

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» Um, yeah,
>> out of the $154,000

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increase uh from last year's costs, how
much of that will be on the city and how

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much of that will be on the
>> That will depend on negotiations. So

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that's to to be determined still based
on what the union contracts end up being

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» in the event that they are identical to
last year. What is burnt down?

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[clears throat]
>> No, we can't answer that because that's

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part of negotiations.

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» Sorry,
>> I guess. Okay.

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Currently, what percentage of the health
insurance premiums is covered by the

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employees?
currently 11%.

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» Thank you.
>> I will note one other thing about this

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plan. Uh they gave us a secondyear rate
guarantee not to exceed a 15% increase.

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We would actually hope for something
better and we're not locked into a

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contract the way that we were with PE.
So they'll give us a renewal based on

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the market at that time and our claims
and we can go shopping again. But worst

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case scenario is our rate cannot exceed
15% increase for 2027.

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» Any other questions?

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» We are not I I have
>> we are not locked in. So they gave us a

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cap on the rate but it's not a contract.
We can go shopping at the end of the

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next year.
They're going to be asked to select us,

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but if they're part of a union,
they don't really know.

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I mean, they have to select one of these
three.

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» Yes. Exactly.
>> Based off on what their healthcare needs

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are.
>> Yes. The employer contribution will be

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the same for all three plans. The
employee then chooses whether they want

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to put their own dollars into a higher
premium or a higher deductible. Thank

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you. So, we don't know exactly what that
employer contribution is yet, but it

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will be the same no matter which plan
they pick. So, the difference in the

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cost of the plans would be their real
savings no matter what.

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» Steve has a question.
>> What percentage increase did we assume

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in our budget projection that this was
going to, you know, I assume we assumed

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some type of increase to this 20%. So,
that in theory, this helps drive down

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the budget a little bit.
>> Yes.

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» Okay. Thanks.
>> Any other questions?

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Other words, I'm looking for a motion to
approve the 2026 health insurance.

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» Second motion and a second. Discussion.
Any further discussion?

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Roll call.
Council

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» member Os. Hi. Nelson. Hi. Gilbertson.
Hi.

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» Gardner. Hi.
Davis I Butterfield

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» I and
>> Shelus I

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» seven eyes's zero nos

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to second we are just broke
>> [laughter]

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[clears throat]

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[laughter]