Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Staff report
lowellville
The village council is considering whether to ask employees’ spouses to obtain health benefits from their own employers if its available.
Bill Flora, chairman of ordinances for the council, said the council will vote on the issue at its December meeting.
“We will continue to insure employees,” he said. “We’re just surveying their spouses to see if they can get insurance elsewhere.”
The village has six full-time salaried employees. Flora said their coverage costs approximately $70,000 a year. He said he does not know how much money the new requirement would save, but said there are two to three spouses that might be affected.
Flora said the village would only require spouses to obtain their own insurance if they can get medical and prescription coverage for less than $300 a month. He also said that if they lost their insurance, they could be covered again by the village’s.
Flora said the village also has an incentive for employees to obtain insurance elsewhere if they can. The village offers an incentive of $125 a month to employees who do so, he said.
“One or two have taken advantage of that,” he added.