INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Tuesday’s Independence metropolis council assembly delivered a one-year medical insurance plan for present and retired metropolis staff. It has been a back-and-forth for the previous three weeks.
“Simply doing one-year band-aid approaches shouldn’t be, I feel, bringing peace of thoughts to anybody,” Michael Steinmeyer, an Independence councilman, mentioned.
Jared Fears, one other councilman responded to Steinmeyer.
“We consider that is rather more than a band support method, simply to be clear,” he mentioned.
Even after a give-and-take that unfolded within the council chambers on Tuesday, a unanimous vote in entrance of a packed room of retirees and firefighters introduced an finish to a debate about medical insurance plans for metropolis staff.
“I am glad people will be capable of select medical insurance and relaxation simpler now, {that a} resolution of kinds has been discovered,” Dan Hobart, one other councilman, mentioned.
Capt. Michael Veit, the treasurer and secretary for the Independence firefighter union, reacted to the vote.
“Proper now, our healthcare plan is safe, we’re safe by way of 2023,” he mentioned.
He instructed KSHB 41 the 2022 funds for metropolis worker medical insurance is $19.4 million, however goes up by $4 million subsequent 12 months.
Addressing worker well being earlier than emergencies, and excessive value claims, is a precedence.
“It is demise by 1,000 paper cuts is what it’s,” Veit mentioned. “If we will work on narrowing that window and making our members more healthy, that displays on our premiums and our prices going ahead.”
Veit added {that a} long-term resolution will grow to be clearer this December after open enrollment for workers, and that further could also be essential for the advantage of a whole bunch of present and retired metropolis employees.
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