A rise in healthcare costs forced the city to change its insurance carrier.
    The city will change from United Healthcare to Cigna Healthcare. City Manager Manuel Esquibel said the city, which pays the entire cost of employee benefits, couldn’t justify a more than 24 percent increase in healthcare costs.
    “We did go back and ask the same carrier (United) to tell us what it would cost with the low option because they have a high option and a low option,” Esquibel said. “It still came back around 12 percent (increase). Even 12 percent was way more than we could afford.”
    Esquibel said city employees will have similar plans with the change to the new provider but some costs would rise.