City rides ‘wave’ to good health insurance renewal

For the City of Abbeville, or any entity for that matter, renewing health insurance is not a linear ride.
Lloyd Campisi, the city’s insurance consultant, said there are plenty of ups and downs from year to year. Campisi attended Tuesday’s regular city council meeting to present details of this year’s health insurance renewal.
“I have been here in good times and bad times,” Campisi said. “Two years ago, we had the worst of times. We had the largest claims we ever had. We had one that was over $1 million. We made hard decisions and made changes where we had to. This is like a wave, you can go from a few good years to a few bad years, then back to good years.
“This year turns out to probably be one of the best years that we’ve ever had.”
The city council voted 5-0 for the proposed renewal during Tuesday’s meeting. Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., who chairs the city’s insurance committee said the move was a no-brainer.
“It was an easy decision for the city council to unanimously adopt this renewal and authorize the Mayor to execute the contracts,” Broussard said.
This renewal will be in effect from this July 1 to June 30, 2022, and does not come with a spike in premiums.
“All the benefits stay the same,” Campisi said, “and all the rates that are being charged to the city for those benefits stay the same.”
Broussard said this is all the result of an annual process.
“Each year at this time it becomes necessary to renew health insurance for the plan year that begins on July 1,” Broussard explained, “or shop our plan with competing health insurance companies. The good job of our broker Lloyd Campisi negotiating with Tokio Marine HCC, our stop loss and aggregate insurance coverage, and also the good job of our insured employees and retirees taking care of themselves has resulted in a renewal that has no increase in premium price.”
The city health insurance program has two components.
“UMR, a United Health Insurance Company, is our program administrator who works closely with the city and Mr. Campisi’s office,” Broussard said. “They also have offered a renewal with no increase in cost.”
Councilman Francis Touchet Jr. thanked Campisi for his continued efforts.
“You have been with us for all of these years,” Touchet said. “One thing that I can say is that you have always looked out for the best interest of our employees. We are able to provide them with an excellent benefit package, and this health insurance package is an A rating.”