Jefferson City will keep same insurance provider for employees in 2025

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City will continue with its same health insurance provider in 2025 after recent controversy surrounding coverage for city employees.

City Spokesperson Molly Bryan said the city changed insurance brokers over the summer, but is still continuing with its same health insurance provider -- Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield -- in 2025. She said the contract has been signed and employees can expect no changes to their coverage or benefits.

The city accepted a bid with broker McGriff Insurance Services when a contract expired with the city's previous broker, Wallstreet. An insurance broker is a group the city uses to find providers for its insurance plan.

Bryan said the change was made in an effort to find ways to cut costs, as the city does not have enough revenue coming in to keep up with all of the services it provides.

"The needs and the services and inflation and the cost of drugs are all rising," Bryan said. "We don't have revenue matching and covering all of those needs, so something has to change, and our city leaders are the ones that have to make that difficult decision."

Bryan said McGriff Insurance Services will work with the city to find ways to cut costs in the future. She said the broker will do an audit of the city's health insurance plan some time in 2025.

"We don't have a sustainable health insurance," Bryan said. "We're not having enough revenue and enough money going into that health insurance because each year, claims are outweighing that. So, some changes have to be made somewhere within the city's budget, and the health insurance plan just is one area that you look at that obviously is not sustaining itself."

Bryan could not provide specific figures on Thursday.

This comes after the city recently approved a measure to allow McGriff Insurance Services to look into using Quantify Specialty Care as a health insurance provider for high-cost employees, though Bryan said no contract was ever signed between the city and Quantify Specialty Care.

In a letter obtained by ABC 17 News, Quantify said it was approached by McGriff Insurance Services about lowering the expense of certain specialty medications, but it would not be entering into an agreement with Jefferson City.

"As these communications progressed but before any legally binding contractual agreements had been agreed upon or executed, Quantify Specialty Care made the strategic business decision to withdraw from further communications and disengage as a potential partner," the letter said. "As such, Quantify Specialty Care will not now or in the future be working with the City of Jefferson."

One Jefferson City family voiced concerns that switching to a new provider could cause their son to lose coverage of a life-saving medication.

Meghan Dudenhoeffer spoke about her 12-year-old son, Grady, at Monday night's City Council meeting. She said he was born with a rare, genetic disease that requires expensive, biweekly infusions.

"He's got a sensitive heart and a sharp mind," Dudenhoeffer said on Monday. "He really is the coolest kid, but Grady would be none of these things without the medication that keeps him alive."

Dudenhoeffer said her husband, Ryan Dudenhoeffer, works in the parks department for the city. She claims city administration approached Ryan over the summer and asked him to switch to a different health insurance plan. She also said Quantify Specialty Care would not cover Grady's necessary medications.

While she did not agree how the city handled the situation, Meghan Dudenhoeffer said in a message to ABC 17 News on Thursday that she is hopeful Grady's care can go on uninterrupted now that the city has decided to stick with the same coverage plan in 2025.

"We are just hoping that this includes us, which we do think because this is what current plan we are on. We haven't heard anything that says different, so we are hopeful," Meghan Dudenhoeffer said. "If I could just have someone tell us for sure, it really would ease my mama heart, but no one from city administration will speak to us."

Bryan said the city will have difficult decisions to make in the years ahead, if it's financial situation does not improve. However, she said these decisions surrounding employees benefits are not something the city takes lightly.

"There are difficult decisions whenever we're talking about taxpayer dollars, whenever we're talking about city employee benefits and their health," Bryan said. "Those are serious issues and they're delicate issues, but, at no point in time does it mean that people here do not care about our community, and we deeply care about our employees."

Bryan said there will be benefit meetings next week Nov. 12-14 for city employees to meet with human resources and ask questions about their coverage.