Title
Award of Medicare Supplement Invitation to Bid (ITB) to McGriff-Williams Insurance (B)
This item requests that the City Commission award the City's Medicare Supplement Options to McGriff-Williams and to designate them as agent of record.
Explanation
The City of Gainesville provides access to its Group Health Plan to all eligible retirees. In an effort to meet the changing demographic and demands of our retirees, the City of Gainesville initiated an Invitation to Bid (ITB) for Medicare Supplement plans C, F and G. By allowing access to a supplement directly from the City, our Medicare eligible retirees will be able to leverage the City's retiree health insurance subsidy towards the cost of a Medicare Supplement as opposed to only being able to use it to offset the cost of the City Group Health Plan. For those retirees eligible for Medicare (age 65 and older) the City's group health plan is secondary to Medicare A and B. The City's plan has been used as a supplement to Medicare parts A and B, in addition, the plan provides prescription drug coverage as a substitute for Medicare Part D. The City's plan provides excellent prescription drug coverage but is not as effective as a supplement to Medicare Parts A and B, due to its calendar year deductible and hospital copays. The City provides a subsidy for our Group Health Plan and it is the subsidy that makes our plan a cost effective alternative to a true Medicare Supplement. Medicare Supplements are designed specifically to cover the gaps in Medicare and are a much more efficient method in many cases to fill the gaps in Medicare for our retirees. Specifically, individuals with low prescription costs will have access to a better method to cover those gaps. Enrolling in the supplement will necessitate the retiree enroll in a Medicare part D drug plan. The use of the supplement will be a voluntary option and not a requirement of Medicare eligible retirees and their spouses. In all cases where a retiree elects the Medicare Supplement, the retiree will see a lower cost for coverage. For many, the City's subsidy will cover the entire premium associated with a supplement, thus reducing the retiree's premium for their supplement to zero.
In response to the ITB, the City received four responses. The lowest bid was received from McGriff-Williams Insurance Agency. McGriff-Williams is a locally owned and operated insurance firm and will act as the agent of record for providing Medicare Supplements underwritten by Florida Blue to our eligible retirees who elect a supplement. The evaluation, as an ITB was a strict cost based ranking. To estimate the cost, staff used the actual eligibility pool by age and assumed a 100% enrollment to ensure the highest estimated cost would be used in the evaluation. Staff does not expect every Medicare eligible retiree to choose the supplement, but it should be noted over 90% of the eligible pool, the City's subsidy is greater than the monthly cost of the supplement. In each of those cases, if elected, there will be a net savings to the City's Retiree Health and Accident Benefit Fund.
Fiscal Note
The funds necessary to pay the premiums are included in the 2015 Retiree Health and Accident Benefits Fund. The estimated costs range from $125,000 to 1,200,000 per year using a projected enrollment range of 10-100%. In most cases, the City's net cost of providing the retiree health benefit will be lower.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) approve the selection of McGriff-Williams Insurance as the provider of and broker of record for Florida Blue Medicare Supplements; and 2) authorize the issuance of a purchase order to McGriff-Williams Insurance/Florida Blue in an amount necessary to cover the cost of the insurance policies selected by the City of Gainesville's retirees.