Boston City Council Kicks Off FY27 Budget Season With $80 Million Healthcare Warning

BOSTON — February 26, 2026 — Boston's Ways and Means Committee heard that city healthcare costs are set to jump $80 million in FY27, the sharpest single-year increase in at least 25 years. Chief Financial Officer Ashley Groffenberger told the committee Thursday that a depleted health insurance trust fund, two individual claims totaling $7 million, and rapidly rising GLP-1 medication use created what she called "a perfect trifecta" that wiped out the city's trust fund surplus and most of its catastrophic reserve. A proposed 22.6 percent rate increase — roughly eight times the eight-year average annual hike of $10.6 million — would cost a typical family plan employee an additional $148 per month. Two cost-reduction options were presented: implementing utilization management for non-specialty drugs, saving $9.2 million, or also dropping GLP-1 obesity coverage, saving just under $18 million; both require union agreement under the city's current Public Employee Committee collective bargaining arrangement. Councillor Sharon Durkan, who has publicly disclosed her own use of GLP-1 medication, challenged the feasibility of direct-to-consumer alternatives and noted that roughly 3,000 city employees currently use GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Senior Labor Advisor Lou Mandarini confirmed the options have been presented to the PEC and that unions are caucusing; the full FY27 mayor's budget is due to the council April 8.