Staff directed the School District’s health insurance broker/consultant, Aon Hewitt Consulting, Inc. (Aon), to negotiate rates and plan designs with Humana and report back to the Employee Benefits Health Insurance Committee (Attachment A).  Humana’s initial renewal offering required a 16.73 percent increase.  In addition, MHNet, the district’s mental health and substance abuse coverage provider, requested a monthly increase of $2.06 per employee. Many subsequent negotiations among Humana, Aon, MHNet, and the District resulted in a final proposal for an 11.83 percent total program increase.  However, on July 25, 2014, Aetna, the new owner of MHNet, informed Aon that it would not renew its mental health and substance abuse coverage (MH/SA) with the District for 2015.  Aetna did offer to renew its EAP services for 2015, with the 2014 benefit plan design at the 2014 rate, but under the brand name of Resources for Living.  Immediately following this notification, staff directed Aon to contact Humana to inform them of our loss of MH/SA and ask that they add this coverage to their health insurance renewal proposal.  With very short notice, Humana agreed to provide MH/SA coverage to our District at a lower cost than MHNet’s.  These most recent negotiations have resulted in a final health insurance proposal for an 11.66 percent total program increase (Attachment B-Revised).  A chart is attached identifying the monthly costs for both the Board’s and the employees’ costs (Attachment C-Revised).  The Committee recommends the School Board continue its relationships with Humana and MHNet and accept the proposed 2015 health insurance renewal.  Highlights of the 2015 renewal include: 

• Board’s funding as proposed
• Opt-outs - employees who have other health insurance coverage may opt-out of the School District’s health plans and receive up to a $720 credit for the year, applied to the employee’s choice of School District pretax benefit plans
• Eligible retiree participation in the program (retirees pay 100% of their premiums)
• MHNet carve-out for mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) coverage
• Resources for Living (formerly MHNet) Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Humana Vitality Wellness Program
• Fees required for Federal Health Care Reform (approximately $6.1 million)