Burnside opts to stick with city health insurance plan

Local News

April 10, 2010

By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer

The nation at large may be talking about health reform, but in Burnside, the status quo is plenty good enough.

A mostly uneventful April meeting of the Burnside City Council saw officials vote to renew the city’s current health plan for city employees.

In 2008, Burnside opted for a new insurance plan with agent Warren Berry, which is designed to save the city a considerable amount of money in premium costs. The plan, a Health Reimbursement Account, features a $5,000 deductible for each employee, of which the city picks up the first $4,000.

“Since we went to it, we’ve saved about $22,000 on premiums,” said Burnside Mayor Chuck Fourman. “This year, we’re predicting to save about $40,000.”

Fourman noted that the premium has been raised about 7.5 percent from last year, but “usually it goes up about 15 percent, so that’s better than usual.”

Last year the city made a similar decision, choosing to stick with United Healthcare.

Currently, seven city employees receive the health coverage.

The reimbursement account is funded at the rate of $4,000 per employee and $12,000 per family.

“I guess it was a good deal that we can keep our same services for our employees,” said Four-man. “Everybody is pretty much on the same page.”

In other city council meeting activity:

• Fourman announced that the “Phase II” sewer project is about “60 percent complete,” which almost all of the north side of Ky. 90 now ready for sewer access. About 50 wastewater service cus-tomers benefit, and 73 will altogether once the project is completed, with the south side of Ky. 90 still to go.