(a) Effective November 1, 2009, employees have the option of opting out of a portion of the health insurance program or opting out entirely. The two methods by which an employee may elect to opt out of the program are as follows.
(1) Option I. An employee may elect to drop his or her insurance coverage with the Town of Nutter Fort entirely. If an employee has family or single coverage and also has health insurance by another private major medical health insurance provider, he or she can elect to opt out of the Town of Nutter Fort’s insurance coverage and will receive a monthly incentive of $250 divided equally between the first and second paycheck of each month, less payroll deductions. In order to qualify for this program, the employee must provide a certificate of insurance stating that he or she has other private major medical health insurance coverage. Medical cards offered through state agencies such as the Department of Human Services will not qualify an employee for this program. If at any time the employee loses his or her other coverage, he or she will be required to notify the payroll department in writing within 30 days, and renew at least single coverage with the own.
(2) Option II. An employee eligible for family coverage may elect to reduce his or her insurance coverage from family to single. Employees who select this option will receive a monthly incentive of $150 divided equally between the first and second paycheck of the month. The employee will remain eligible to receive this monthly incentive bonus as long as he or she continues to qualify for family coverage. Therefore, if at any time the employee’s family status changes, such as death, divorce or children reaching the maximum age, he or she would be required to notify the Town of Nutter Fort that he or she is no longer eligible for family coverage and would therefore lose this monthly incentive. Employees may elect Option II at this time and later may elect to opt out of the insurance program entirely and receive the additional $100 if he or she meets the qualifications as outlined in Option I.
(b) If an employee participating in the optional insurance program loses eligibility for any reason and fails to notify the payroll department, he or she will be required to refund any payments received while ineligible. This program may be amended or terminated at the discretion of the Council.
(c) An employee who elects to return to the Town of Nutter Fort’s program for single or family coverage will be required to meet the eligibility requirements in effect at that time.
(Ord. passed 3-10-2010)