Change in City of Vandalia’s Health Insurance Coverage for Employees will result in savings

A change the City of Vandalia was forced to make with the City’s Employee Health Insurance coverage is going to turn out to be a big savings for the City and a saving for the employees, as well.

During a special meeting on Monday evening, several city employees were on hand to hear more on the new health insurance coverage.  Pat Click from McKellar, Robertson, McCarty and Click Insurance told the crowd Health Alliance was no longer going to cover group plans, therefore the City had to switch coverage by May 1st.  Click laid out information on 3 different insurance plans from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and explained some different options on each plan.

There were 3 different plans—one with a $500 deductible, one with a $250 deductible and one with zero deductible.  Click said the City would be saving anywhere from $444,000 to $475,000 with the switch.  Alderman Russ Stunkel recommended they go with the zero deductible plan and it was approved by a 4 to 2 vote.

The city will save $444,000 with the switch to Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  The City’s employees will also see savings in their cost, too.  With the zero deductible plan they will save anywhere from $78.96 a month for the single plan and $121.08 on the family plan.  It was mentioned by Click and others that this is for one year, so the zero deductible might not be doable in the future–as the cost of insurance normally goes up each year.