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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOD-015-16 Clarington Corporate Services Report If this information is required in an alternate accessible format, please contact the Municipal Clerk at 905-623-3379 ext. 2102. Report To: General Government Committee Date of Meeting: June 20, 2016 Report Number: COD-015-16 Resolution: File Number: RFP2016-3 By-law Number: Report Subject: Provision of Employee Group Benefits Recommendations: 1. That Report COD-015-16 be received; 2. That Sun Life Financial be awarded the contract for the provision of Employee and Dependent Life, Long Term Disability, Extended Health and Dental coverage for a five (5) year term with a review at the conclusion for possible renewal of further terms pending satisfactory service and acceptable conditions; 3. That the Purchasing Manager be authorized to negotiate with Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, being the Municipality's current provider of Accidental Death and Dismemberment a renewal of the existing agreement. This agreement to be reviewed at the conclusion for possible renewal of further terms pending satisfactory service and acceptable conditions; 4. That the Purchasing Manager be authorized to execute administrative agreements as required for the current and future renewals, subject to satisfactory service and acceptable terms; and 5. That all interested parties listed in Report COD-015-16 and any delegations be advised of Council's decision by the Purchasing Division. Municipality of Clarington Report COD-015-16 Page 2 Report Overview To request authorization from Council to award Request for Proposal RFP2016-3 for the Provision of Employee Group Benefits. 1 . Background The Municipality of Clarington has been with Great West Life (GWL) for Extended Health and Dental benefits, Life Insurance and Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits since 2008 and with Chubb Insurance for Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) since that same time. With the increased renewal rates and length of time with the current carrier it was time to go back to market to test the competitiveness of the market costs compared to the current carrier's costs, review alternate underwriting arrangements and to explore the service capabilities of the available carriers. Buffett Taylor Employee Benefits Consulting was contracted to assist the Municipality with the development of the Request for Proposal (RFP) to source a qualified firm(s) for provision of Employee Group Benefits as required by the Municipality of Clarington. RFP2016-3 was issued by the Purchasing Services Division and advertised electronically on the Municipality's website. The RFP was structured on the price-based two envelope RFP system. Notification of the availability of the document was also posted on the Ontario Public Buyer's Association website. Ten (10) companies downloaded the document. The RFP for benefits coverage included all employee benefits; employee and dependent Life Insurance, Optional Life, Long Term Disability (LTD), Extended Health and Dental benefits, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D). Coverage was intended to cover all levels of municipal staffing, including approximately 374 employees and retirees. The RFP closed on Friday, April 29, 2016. 2. Employee Group Benefits The RFP stipulated that bidders were to provide their responses to a series of questionnaires specific to each area. This was to allow for the providers to be evaluated in a consistent manner while bringing to the forefront any deviations between the Municipality's current plans and the proposed plans. Bidders were able to create and submit proposals for any of the following: AD&D, Life & LTD, Health and Dental or any combination of the aforementioned. Each Proponent was to include within their proposal information and rates for both Traditional Group Insured plans as well as Administrative Services Only (ASO) plans. Municipality of Clarington Report C®D-015-16 Page 3 A total of five (5) submissions were received by the closing date and time. (See Attachment 1 for Summary of Firms who submitted a Proposal). Each benefits provider submitted a comprehensive proposal addressing all issues contained within the RFP document. The submissions were reviewed and scored by Buffett Taylor in accordance with the established criteria as outlined in the RFP. Some of the areas on which the submissions were evaluated were as follows: • Matching of existing plan design • Experience and Qualifications of the Firm • Transition Process including enrollment packages, data management services, etc. • Deviations between existing plan and the proposed new plan • Rate Guarantee Period • Responses to Financial Questionnaire • Project Schedule The following three firms met the established threshold of 80% for Phase 1 and were invited to present to the Municipality's evaluation team (Corporate Services — HR/Payroll/Purchasing and the Director of Finance) and Buffett Taylor: Great West Life Assurance Company, Green Shield Canada and Sun Life Financial. The pricing envelopes for the three aforementioned Companies were opened and evaluated by Buffett Taylor. Taking into account all of the above, Sun Life Financial has met the Municipality requirements with the most savings overall for all benefits except AD&D. Some things to note are as follows: • Extended Health and Dental benefit rates have been guaranteed for 16 months. • For Health and Dental benefits the Incurred But Not Reported (IBNR) reserves will be applied at the 1St renewal for health and dental. The current IBNR with GWL will most likely be used up with claims submitted up to and including the end of the current contract with GWL. With changing carriers, employees will have to submit for all claims not yet reported within a time frame for reimbursement. Therefore, a new reserve will be built into our first renewal with Sun Life. • Sun Life applied a 15% renewal cap at first renewal and was the only bidder to provide a renewal commitment. • Sun Life no longer offers a $10,000 pooling threshold and this would be increased to a $15,000 pooling level. This is not a plan change, but does take into account an extra $5,000 worth of claims for each individual who currently hits the pooling level of$10,000. With the increased pooling level and rising costs of treatments this may help lower our overall pooling cost renewals. The increase in pool level was noted within each of the Proposals received. • Sun Life's pricing is based on Prior Authorization for drugs, which does apply under our current carrier, GWL (however is not noted in the booklets). • Life Insurance rates have been guaranteed for 40 months and LTD for 28 months. Municipality of Clarington Report COD-015-16 Page 4 • All existing insurance coverages are grandfathered. Refer to Confidential Attachment 2: Buffett Taylor's letter— Group Benefits Marketing Summary and Recommendation for further information. For AD&D two Proponents responded, Manulife and Sun Life, however neither proponent met the passing threshold for this standalone coverage. Given that Sun Life met the passing threshold in Extended Health and Dental and Life & LTD their submission for AD&D was reviewed. Although the proposed increase in the AD&D annual premium is not significant, the recommendation is not to award the AD&D portion as part of this RFP due to the proposed price increase (31.6% or approximately $5,000 per year) as well as the plan deviations proposed. Purchasing is requesting authorization to negotiate with CHUBB to continue providing AD&D coverage to the Municipality. Purchasing contacted CHUBB to find out if they would be interested in continuing to provide AD&D to the Municipality and was advised by CHUBB that they were willing to continue to provide this service with no change to current rates. During the conversation CHUBB also advised that they had upgraded their Policy and are now able to include Coma and Brain Damage endorsements. 3. Financial Premium Program: Carrier: Chubb Insurance Benefit: Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Dollar Value: Current annual cost $15,846 Carrier: Sun Life Financial The total annual savings for the Municipality, under a fully insured basis for all benefits, except AD&D, is $549,055 and for the rate guarantee period is $1,140,564 based on current Great West Life annual premiums; • Extended Health and Dental annual savings are $242,729, and for rate guarantee period (16 months) is $323,638. • Life and LTD annual savings are $306,326, and for rate guarantee period (40 and 28 months respectively) is $816,926. Benefits: Extended Health and Dental/Employee & Dependent Life/LTD Insurance Dollar Value: Approximately $2,720,837 annually The value of the five (5) year contract is approximately $2.7 million annually (excluding applicable taxes) for the Life, LTD, Heath and Dental benefits. Ongoing costs beyond the rate guarantee periods are subject to acceptance of annual renewal rates, as per insurance industry renewal requirements. We will continue to review cost containment measures. Municipality of Clarington Report COD-015-16 Page 5 ASO Program: Under an ASO funding arrangement, the Municipality would be at full risk for paying the claims as well as the associated ASO fees. It is hard to predict how claims will trend moving forward however the current industry trend is that claims continue to rise which increases claims cost. Insured Funding Arrangement Administrative Services Only (ASO) Definition Municipality is fully-insured and Municipality is self-insured and pays premiums to the insurance funds actual costs of paid claims carrier. The premium rates are plus ASO expenses using an fixed for a year, based on the insurance carrier to adjudicate and number of employees enrolled in pay the claims. the plan each month. Risk Assumptions Insurer assumes the risk and Employer assumes all the risks guarantees benefits as per the and the insurer only administers group contract the benefits as per the group contract Premiums Premiums are determined by the Costs determined by actual claims insurance company to pay experience and required total anticipated claims plus expenses charges (ASO expenses) Premium If claims exceed estimates based If claims exceed estimates based Renewals on premiums paid (shortfall) on premiums paid Municipality insurer absorbs, however pays for funding shortfall upon premiums and reserves will be renewal and premiums will be adjusted at renewal adjusted based on claims experience Reserves Maintained by the insurer Would need to be established and maintained by the Municipality Sun Life Quote Premium decrease of 10.8% on Premium decrease of 0.5% on health and dental annually health and dental annually not available for LTD, Life or ADD Pooling Charges Percentage of paid claims based Percentage of paid claims based on block of business on own experience and pooled block Expense Charges Covered in the cost of the Becomes an additional layer of (i.e. Administrative/ premium paid to the Insurance cost to the Municipality on top of Overhead or other Provider the actual claim paid allocated costs as illustrated below) Municipality of Clarington Report COD-015-16 Page 6 Claim Illustration: (Information shown below is for illustration purposes only and does not reflect an actual claim but rather demonstrates the minimal difference between the funding arrangements.) Insured Funding Arrangement Administrative Services Only (ASO) $1 premium paid $1 claim paid $1 premium inclusive of: Full $1 claim paid by employer • $0.81 claims cost Plus • carrier expense charges • $0.19 expense charges Claim Paid out $1.00 Claim paid out $1.00 Company Cost/Overhead $0.24 ASO Admin Cost $0.22 Total Cost of Claim to Cost to Municipality $1.22 Insurance Company $1.24 Net Difference: ($0.02) Alternate ASO costs based on the proposed ASO fees is an estimated first year annual decrease of 0.5% or approximately -$10,424 compared to pre-RFP rates currently being paid to GWL. The estimated annual ASO cost will fluctuate however depending on actual claims trending. Generally speaking, moving to an ASO or self-funding arrangement is best suited to the scenario where the following factors are present: history of premiums paid are significantly higher than benefit actual costs, or where the employee group usage is below industry trends. In those scenarios, there are sufficient anticipated cost savings to establish a fund to cover the financial risk of the self-insured program. In the Municipality's current scenario, the benefit usage trends consistently with market trends, resulting in only a small savings in moving to an ASO arrangement. Due to health care future risks around things like specialized drugs, it is not recommended at this time to move to an ASO arrangement as annual financial exposure is a cause for concern with no sufficient funds to build up internal reserves. The Municipality has successfully participated in self-funding arrangements outside of employee benefits where the above factors were present i.e. general municipal liability. Municipal Staff will continue to monitor these types of opportunities in the future. Each Proponent was asked to comment on whether they believed there was any possible savings under an ASO funding arrangement. All responded that there would be possible immediate savings due to the current provider using up their reserves for historical claims; however, the Municipality would then be required to initiate a similar reserve-type fund. Also, there would not be any expected significant future savings given the increasing claims trending, increasing pool charges due to continuous increasing cost of biogenetic drugs etc. in the market. A Proponent even commented that in some cases, employers who made the switch to ASO funded plans are now moving back to an insured funding arrangement. Based on the minimal savings offered by moving to an ASO funding arrangement at this time, the insured funding arrangement continues to be the recommended funding arrangement for Clarington. Municipality of Clarington Report COD-015-16 Page 7 4. Concurrence The Director of Finance, Nancy Taylor, participated as part of the Evaluation team, included comments in the report and concurs with the recommendation. 5. Conclusion It is respectfully recommended to award the contract for the provision of Employee and Dependent Life, Long Term Disability, Extended Health and Dental Coverage to Sun Life Financial and to continue under an Insured Funding Arrangement and the Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage with Chubb Insurance Company, each for a five (5) year term. At the conclusion, or throughout the term as deemed appropriate, a review will be undertaken, for consideration of renewal or market competition. The transition to the new provider is an extensive undertaking. It is targeted to start mid- July with Buffett Taylor assisting with the transition as included in their consultant bid submission. The preparation, data transfer and initiation of all documentation including sign-up etc. will take a minimum of a few months. Staff will receive information regarding the change in Benefit carrier and each will receive an employee package. Subject to agreement with Sun Life, the Municipality would be looking for an effective date of October 1, 2016 or by the Municipality's current renewal date of November 1, 2016 as appropriate. Sun Life Financial have assured the Municipality that it is comfortable with conducting a smooth transition to the new plans. 6. Strategic Plan Application The recommendations contained in this report conform to the Strategic Plan. Submitted by: Reviewed by: MA'ri-ie' Marano, H.B. Sc., C.M.O. Franklin Wu, Director of Corporate Services Chief Administrative Officer Staff Contact: David Ferguson, Purchasing Manager, 905.623.3379 Ext 2209 or dferguson@clarington.net Attachments: Attachment 1: Proposals Received Confidential Attachment 2: Buffett Taylor's letter- Group Benefits Marketing Summary and Recommendation List of interested parties to be notified of Council's decision is on file in the Purchasing Services Department. MM/DF/sm Attachment 1 to Municipality of Clarington Report COD-01 5-16 Clarboon Municipality of Clarington Proposals Received RFP2016-3 Provision of Employee Group Benefits Bidder Great West Life Sun Life Green Shield Canada Desjardins Financial Security Manulife *Bidders who were shortlisted.