SMITHFIELD – The Smithfield Town Council March 19 adopted a recommendation from Tim Kerigan, the town’s director of human resources, to enroll the town’s employees in the North Carolina Health Insurance Pool (NCHIP), which presently includes 28 municipal and county governments.
Mr. Kerigan said the move should put a damper on the town’s health-insurance premiums going forward and also protect the town from future premium spikes following a year of unusually high claims among its employees.
He said the town was facing a 13% jump in its annual premium in the fiscal year ahead under its existing arrangement with a private insurance carrier. Joining NCHIP should cut the coming year’s increase to 7.9%, although NCHIP’s premium increases in recent years have averaged 2.1%, he said.
Moving into NCHIP should save the Town of Smithfield “over $100,000” this coming year and $1.1 million over the next five years, Mr. Kerigan estimated.
He said NCHIP has been in operation for six years with 10,000 employees plus another 5,000 family members presently covered. No local government has withdrawn from the plan since its inception, although the town has that option each year; and “they have not kicked anyone out,” Mr. Kerigan noted.
Current terms of the town’s health-insurance program will remain in effect, including deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, Mr. Kerigan emphasized. After assessing potential health risks among Smithfield’s employees, NCHIP’s board “felt we would be a good partner,” he said.
Reprinted with permission from The Smithfield Weekly Sun
Pooling together for a collective outcome?? Sounds a lot like SOCIALISM if you ask me. Why is the town even boyhering with this? Just give everyone a 20% raise and let everyone get theit own insurance.
#VoteOutIncumbents #smallerGovernmentIsBetter
Do you understand how insurance works? Apparently not.
@Mark: Yes I do. The healthy subsidize the sick. It’s the essence of SOCIALISM. True Conservatives know the mist important freedom is to be able to make your own decisions. We should have private insurance only, and everyone can decide for themselves what type of insurance (if any) to purchase. Snowflake Libs like you want someone else to make decisions for them.
This is specifically for “Tell the Truth” . You may think you know how insurance works but you’re obviously NOT up to date on the current salary issues or inflation and cost of living. Our salaries have been 20% behind for 8 yrs. at least? The average salary of someone 50+ yrs old at a job they’ve done for 20 yrs is a minimum of $50k ! I certainly don’t make $50k a yr. for over 20 years yrs of service. The first salary study that was done I actually received an .18 cent (not percent) CENTS increase. While someone right next to me who made exponentially more already received $4k…Explain that logic? Wasn’t the whole purpose to help those at the lower end? Then you figure in cost of living increase and inflation ever yr. since then. I know personally I drive 70+ miles round trip to work there and then have to buy meals (or groceries) for while I’m there (12 hr shifts!) My fuel cost are $400+ a month.
The Town has given us very little part and parcel raises since then but nothing close to catching up with the national (mush less local) salary averages. If we worked for the PD who’s gotten 3 separate 15% raises and still has retention issues, or we could write our own $10k a yr. raises like some…we’d be ok. Add the fact the county has gotten at least 2-15% raises (in just a year!) we might be getting somewhere. BUT, just handing someone a 20% salary increase and saying have a nice day you’re on your own with your insurance.…would be equally as detrimental and flat out just not bright! Because they do the same thing every year. Give us 2% or something for “COL” increase, then say we’re going to give you 5% merit or something later this year. Then part 2 never comes to fruition due to some excuse. Then, when they DO give us something halfway substantial they cut that by saying “we just gave you 2% the other day! Never fails!!! Perfect example…Council approved a 2% raise, Manager steps in and says and I quote “ I don’t want to see ANY 2% recommendations come across my desk”! So what’s the purpose? Lift you up a smidge, and keep you down for 2-3 more yrs!
But back on the insurance front…Anything to keep our deductibles from going up and up and up every year and our out of pocket part going up (because the Towns part goes up) due to having to change companies for cost savings for the same (or hopefully) better coverage, because the Co. we are using changes their rates etc…would be a good thing for us to keep coverage the same or better and cost steady without all the increase. IF this only saves the Town money (and they’re not going to pass on that savings to us in any way, shape or form) then I agree it may not be worth it. Municipalities will never run like the employees want them to. They are after all a Govt. entity. But…there’s also a whole lot more they could do for their employees to show appreciation (in lieu of not giving out raises) as well.
@Bill Bob: If your job is so bad, then leave. NC is a right to work state, you’re free to go and find a better job. If you stayed in a job with a salary that is ” 20% behind for 8 yrs. at least” then YOU need to make a change. Snowflake Libs who complain and complain but don’t actually change their own situation are the problem. STOP asking the government for help! If you want to live somewhere where the government is responsible for you, then go move to SOCIALIST Europe. Here in the USA we’re responsible FOR OURSELVES. If you don’t like the insurance the town offers, then opt and and get your own.
And you think the Town should just hand you what ??? $700 tax free so you can go pay for your own insurance?
@Billy Bob: Yes, absolutely. Look at your paystub…the amounts that the Town pays for your insurance (and your cost) should be given directly to you. Then you can get your own insurance (or not). INDIVIDUALS should be responsible for themselves. You liberals need STOP asking the government to take care of everything and learn to to TAKE RESPONSBILITY for yourself.
I had a very lengthy reply for you. Apparently there’s a moderator who didn’t approve. Long story short…you’re not very bright, do not read very well, and really should seek life elsewhere. You accuse everybody else of being a “liberal” ?!? I fought for your right to whine. I fought for, and stand up for EVERYDAY that parchment you’ve never read and definitely can’t understand! You child, are the only snowflake here whining about someone handing you tax free money to do something YOU want to do. That’s entitlement spkg. Our insurance is a BENEFIT! They don’t have to provide you with SQUAT! If you don’t like it…pay for your own somewhere else with all that cash you’re apparently making. Could it be better? Of course! Could your wife be a better cook? Absolutely! But it is what it is…and her cooking is atrocious! So, my concern was them catching the salaries up to a current nationwide (at least Statewide) average and concentrating on ALL retention (well, maybe not you) instead of just LE. So, until then, mommy’s basement is calling and I’m sure you have some MSNBC or CNN to catch up on. You can surface again like a groundhog when Joe comes out of his basement. Until then, try to STFU
@Tell the Truth
Firstly, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you’re an idiot. You ASS-ume anyone who disagrees with you is a LIBERAL! The only whining snowflake I hear on here is YOU. I have worked for MUNICIPALITIES for 20 yrs. genius. Didn’t say this one. I did make considerably more money where I was previously. My circumstances changed (which is none of you and your current Biden administrations) business…and I left to come somewhere not too far away. I was told from day one “by the superintendent at that time “that our salaries are way behind the current average and. they’re getting ready to change that, they’re doing a pay study and we’re going to get 20% to bring them current!” and kept hearing that for the next 3 yrs. YOU on the other hand have apparently been doing quite well playing for the “good ol boy network” and yet you’re the one begging for someone to “Give” you money to pay your insurance. I’m the one saying PAY your employees what they’re worth to start with AND provide decent benefits for said employees. YOU can take your big-time salary and go get all the supplemental insurance your little Demtard heart desires. That’s the way the real world works kid! I’m the farthest thing from a liberal there could possibly be. I fought for this country and crybaby’s like you, did you? I own more firearms than most small LE agencies! I’m the most staunch 1A, 2A and all the others on that piece of parchment I fought for (that you’ve never even read) much less understand! Remember this genius, YOU are the one wanting to venture out into Obama land for insurance! And YOU are begging for someone to hand you the money to do it. I’m the one saying pay your employees what they are worth to start with! Be concerned about all depts.retention (not just LEO’s) and maybe not your particular job, you sound very expendable! A municipality, or any other job really, should pay according to the average national salary for that position. Not have the opinion of “well, bust your butts and maybe, just maybe we’ll give you a raise someday”! If you make so much money and are so happy, OPT TF out and go get you some fantastic insurance. OR, go somewhere else for more money and buy your own with that extra money. My point is WHOLLY, an employee shouldn’t have to leave their job because the employer refuses to pay a living wage in the current economy. MEANWHILE, YOU are complaining about BENEFITS! They are just that, a benefit! Something they don’t have to provide you with period! So who’s the Socialist now?!? Why don’t you just close your hole and continue sitting in mommy’s basement until it’s time for you and Dementia Joe to both pop up for the election.
@Tell the Truth
Also you said in closing “if you don’t like the insurance the Town provides opt out and go get your own” ? YOU my genius comrade were the one complaining about the insurance. I
Was the one TELLING YOU to do that very thing and quit asking for someone to hand you tax FREE money to do so. Could our insurance be better? Yes! Could the deductibles be lower? Absolutely! Everything can be improved! What I said about it was “yes it could be better”. BUT I have been spkg. mainly to lack of updated salaries. Hence ANOTHER study the Town just did. So apparently my concerns have some validity. And yours??? Yep…CRICKETS. Keep up with the conversation now, if I’m moving too fast for you I’ll be glad to dumb it down some for you. You really should read you Communist Manifesto again. I think you misunderstood a lot of it.
Hahahaha….textbook DNC move! Accuse others of the which you are guilty of! Little child, calling everybody liberals and snowflakes etc…when YOU are the one begging for tax free cash from the government to go buy something YOU want! YOU my dimwitted friend are the socialist! Our insurance is a BENEFIT! Do you understand that word? That means they don’t have to give you a ______g thing! Worry about the salaries. Then you can be special and go and buy the most expensive privatized Obamacare insurance your little Demtard heart desires.
It’s clear the world’s problems are being solved right here in these comments. Keep up the good work!
The world’s problems?!? LOL…that’s a little ambitious. Might want to stick to JoCo and just try to focus on and start with Meth, Marlboro Reds, and Mt. Dew…and see how that goes!!!