Decatur council approves change to health benefits deductible

— Employees of the city of Decatur will benefit from a new health insurance policy that will cover their deductible while saving the city money on insurance premiums at the same time.

City council members voted to approve the new insurance policy at the Dec. 13 meeting.

The new policy will allow the city to raise the deductible on employees’ regular policies through the Arkansas Municipal League, from $250 to $500, saving about$12,500 a year.

It will also pay for the coverage “gap,” up to $2,500, leaving employees with virtually a zero deductible, according to Ben Starnes, a representative from Colonial Life Insurance.

The policy also gives each employee a health screening benefit that will pay $50 towards procedures such as mammograms, prostate exams, blood cholesterol testing and electrocardiograms.

The city will pick up the cost of the new policy, which is about $8 a pay period per employee. It will replace a similarly priced AFLAC policy that only covered visits to the hospital intensive care unit.

Starnes pointed out that only a handful of employees would have benefited from a policy covering stays in the ICU, while most can benefit from the gap policy.

“I think it’s just a benefit for the employee but its also saving us quite a bit of money,” said mayor Bill Montgomery.

News, Pages 6 on 12/29/2010