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Salem officials look at insurance options
SALEM
City officials may try a second time to switch its health-insurance plan to save money.
Mayor Jerry Wolford had hoped the city’s four unions would agree to a new health-insurance program that he said would “save the city thousands of dollars.”
Workers in the fire, utility and street departments approved the plan Wednesday, but members of the police department voted against it.
All four unions had to approve the plan in order to start the program.
The mayor said he has been working with Morris Financial Group in Salem that would act as a third- party administrator for the plan.
The idea was to have the third-party administrator find a lower insurance premium with the same benefits as the existing contracts.
Steve Andres, the city’s safety and service director, said Thursday that the plan is called a Health Reimbursement Account.
The city pays $1.2 million a year for health insurance, Andres said.
Under the reserve account, the city would pay the claims and keep any funds that were not spent on payments.
Andres said that the savings to the city would be the unused insurance costs.
The negotiated benefits that city workers are receiving now would not change if an HRA is enacted.
Patrolman Brent Slider, the Fraternal Order of Police representative for the police department, said that talks are continuing about the proposal.