Dallas proposes dropping PPO health plan for employees

As the cost of health insurance skyrockets, cities like Dallas are working to figure out how to reign in the costs during already tough budget times.The Dallas city manager said she is making a tough choice of recommending that the city eliminate its Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) health plan.Dallas Health Insurance ChangesCurrently, 53% of all Dallas employees, including police officers and firefighters, are on the PPO plan.But the city said keeping the PPO plan would mean the city would have to cut $10 million from its budget and also increase employee premiums by 40%-45%. That could also mean more employee layoffs.City leaders explained that many other employers have also been eliminating PPOs in recent years."Majority are not offering a PPO. The whole state of Texas is not offering a PPO. Universities are not offering a PPO. And they’re not offering a PPO not because it’s not a good plan, it’s because it’s harder to control costs when someone has basically free range to go t