A Tulsa city councilor took other city officials to task this week over city employees' health plans.
In a committee meeting, Councilor Anna America told city administrators non-public safety employees were told to explore all insurance options this year, even SoonerCare. She said employees making less than $30,000 have deductibles nearing $7,000, and one employee complained costs for their family plan doubled since last year to $10,000.
"And if that's what it's going to be working at the City of Tulsa, I think we're going to have more and more people who are going to say, 'I'm not going to work at the City of Tulsa,'" America said.
She called the current health plan a disaster for recruiting.
"We essentially offer catastrophic health care, but for somebody like that, catastrophic health care can be a broken leg or, God forbid, a heart attack or something more significant, which is going to drive someone to bankruptcy," America said.
America acknowledged health care choices have gotten worse for everyone but said Oklahoma City employees have about one-third the out-of-pocket maximum. Tulsa’s finance director blames a lack of resources, citing sales tax average growth recently of 1.3 percent.
City officials will look at nearby cities’ health plans — and at a self-insured option.
"We would have to locate — if we were to start on that path — additional resources to assure that we could cover the potential maximum liability we would have," said Finance Director Mike Kier.
The total expected cost of paying employees’ health claims as of today is $19.4 million a year, almost $1 million more than is being spent on the current, fully-insured plan.
Self-insured plans include funding for a plan administrator and stop-loss insurance, which would kick in after the city covered 125 percent of its maximum liability.
Police and fire have health plans separate from other city employees.
