Jacksonville’s Duval DOGE special committee says it has found roughly $4.2 million a year in potential savings in the city’s employee pharmacy benefit plan and is pressing City Hall to move fast to lock it in, all without cutting benefits. The panel is zeroing in on the pharmacy benefit manager contract and other structural quirks in how the plan is set up.
Where the savings would come from
Working with consulting firm The Bailey Group, the committee concluded that switching the city’s pharmacy benefit manager from Prime to Express Scripts could significantly boost guaranteed rebates. The review projected about $10.7 million in rebates under Express Scripts compared with roughly $6.4 million with Prime, which accounts for most of the $4.2 million savings estimate. The analysis also flagged vendor contract issues and other cost containment tweaks that the panel says could be fixed without trimming employee coverage. DOGE members say the city could make the switch in about 90 days and intend to send their recommendations to the mayor’s office in time to potentially impact next year’s budget, according to News4JAX.
Mayor’s office pushes back
The Deegan administration is not sold. City officials say their own consultants have already found and implemented millions in savings and argue the DOGE comparison may not be apples to apples. A city spokesperson said those consultants have delivered more than $12 million in savings so far and raised concerns that a straight pharmacy benefit manager swap could affect quality of care, according to Action News Jax. The Bailey Group also estimated that roughly 237 policyholders might have to change medications under the switch, a disruption DOGE members say can be managed carefully if the city opts to move forward.
How DOGE fits into City Hall’s oversight maze
The Special Committee on Duval DOGE was created to scrutinize department growth and city programs and is required to report its findings on or before June 30, 2026, according to the City of Jacksonville. Councilmember Nick Howland Salem chairs the panel, and he told News4JAX he backs creating a permanent independent council committee focused on government spending. Councilmember Rory Diamond floated the idea of either a standalone watchdog group or a subcommittee under the finance committee. DOGE members say moving quickly on the pharmacy proposal is key so extra rebates and other near term savings do not slip away while the larger oversight debate plays out.
Budget backdrop: a health fund in the red
The city’s group health fund has been running a deficit, and officials have already been tweaking plan design and pharmacy rules to slow the bleeding. Administration leaders have previously described multiyear savings in the low double digits of millions from those efforts. Council members counter that deep dive reviews like DOGE’s can still surface fresh opportunities that the administration has not yet captured, all while keeping employee access intact. Local reporting has detailed months of work by council consultants and city staff to shrink the plan’s shortfall, as noted by Jax Today.
What happens next
DOGE will formally present its recommendations to the mayor’s office, which will decide whether to pull the trigger on a pharmacy benefit manager change. Council members say any move would require close executive branch coordination to keep patient care from being disrupted. If Mayor Donna Deegan signs off, council leadership argues the shift could show up as real savings in the next budget cycle. The committee plans to keep holding public meetings and publishing its findings as it tries to build support for the proposal, according to Action News Jax.
