JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City leaders are digging into the city’s health plan in hopes of cutting costs.
It’s part of the Duval DOGE Special Committee, which is back in action after a multi-month hiatus.
This past year, the City of Jacksonville paid $23 million more in health insurance for claims than it took in with employee contribution payments.
On top of that, the city council had to backfill the healthcare trust fund to the tune of $5 million to keep it solvent, according to Duval DOGE Committee Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2-At-Large).
“I don’t think we can continue at the pace we’re at. It’s gonna be $150 million in four or five years with the rate of inflation in healthcare. That 28 becomes 150 very quickly,” said Salem.
In the current budget, the city council included $90,000 to contract with the Bailey Group to help the city come up with options to bring down costs.
“I think there’s potentially five, 10, $15 million that we can eventually save over a multi-year period,” said Salem.
Presenting to the Duval DOGE committee on Tuesday, the group suggested hiring a pharmacy benefits manager to lower prescription costs and also taking a look at employee contributions.
Salem indicated he didn’t think it was fair that top-paid city employees pay the same premiums as lower wage employees, but cautioned leaders need to be very sensitive when discussing the possibility of raising employee contributions.
“I’m an employee. I get my benefits here. So, I’m as interested as anybody,” said Salem.
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The healthcare discussion comes as city leaders have faced pressures from Tallahassee in recent weeks to cut as much as $200 million, or roughly 10 percent, from the city’s budget.
When asked whether that figure is actually attainable, Salem indicated it may be too tough of a lift.
“That’s a lot of money. We had a ten-nine vote on $13 million this year,” said Salem.
Any changes to the city’s healthcare plan would have to be implemented by the mayor’s administration.
In a statement, the mayor’s office emphasized that the health insurance issue pre-dates the current administration, which was a fact also acknowledged by Salem.
The mayor’s office also noted it’s already implemented changes to reduce the cost of the healthcare plan.
“These efforts will reduce employee healthcare costs by more than $13 million from 2023 to 2027, and we will continue to focus on delivering more savings. Should the duplicative efforts being undertaken by the Duval DOGE Committee produce new ideas, we look forward to reviewing them,” said a spokesperson for the mayor’s office in a statement.
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