Obamacare impacts city health coverage

By PAUL KEDINGER
Managing Editor

Obamacare’s affordability provisions are impacting the cost of providing health insurance for Rayne city employees.
That was evident Thursday morning as the City Council in a special meeting tried to navigate the best route to provide health care coverage for workers and their families in the face of increased premium costs.
The Council eventually decided to poll city workers  on their preference of two options complete with cost figures “in black and white.”
Because it may take several days to compile those figures, the Council will be facing something of a deadline to act. Another special meeting may be required to determine which of the two options will be selected.
Moreover, that decision must be made because workers who select either single or family coverage can only be enrolled during the first week of December.
Under the Affordable Care Act, full-time employes cannot be required to contribute more than 9½ percent of their gross salary toward their single health premiums. Therefore, the city must increase its contribution from 64 percent ($423.74) to 82 percent ($543.44) of the $601.90 monthly premium for single coverage.
Under the new rate, employee’s share would be lower  –– $118.66 monthly or $54.77 per pay period. Currently, 31 city workers pay for single coverage.
Compounding the dilemma for the Council members is the soaring cost; next year’s budget projected a $60,000 increase instead of an anticipated $140,000 spike in cost.
Under the plan offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, there is an option which would raise the deductible and out-of-pocket expenses but increase the city administration’s cost to only $70,000.
Councilman-at-large Paul Molbert suggested Option No. 1 “might help.” The prospect of more manageable expenses appealed to Council members Molbert, Calise Doucet and Gerald Foreman. Council members Ann Domingue Washington and Jude “Butch” Abshire were absent.
Family coverage, however, added another “wrinkle” to the Council’s quandary when a city worker Debra Leonards asked if those with just single coverage get a discount, will that discount also be applied to the cost of family coverage. How to “subtract” that discount from family coverage wasn’t fully addressed.
Twenty-two city workers currently pay for family insurance coverage. Under the 64% city share/36% worker share, the city contributes $1,122.92 of the $1,595.04 premium and workers pay $631.64 monthly or $291.53 per pay period.
It was also pointed out that Rayne is the only area municipality that provides family coverage option to its workers.
In addition, it was noted in cases where a worker’s spouse is employed, some companies and cities  require the spouses to purchase health insurance coverage from their employer.
Furthermore, while the city’s governing ordinance mandates single coverage for workers, a past  Council approved a resolution to provide single and family coverage to retirees who worked 20 or more years for the city.
When Mayor Roland Boudreaux asked department heads in attendance, if they could project which of their staff would sign up for insurance, some answered a few might decide to sign up while  one department head said none of his staff would. There are currently 20 workers who carry no health insurance coverage.
The Council now waits to hear from the city workers as to which of two options they would prefer.