ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 VIRGINIA EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JENNIFER MILLER STAFF WRITER
SOME FORMER BEDFORD COUNTY EMPLOYEES say they shouldn't have to pay more than current workers to receive the same coverage.
Retired Bedford County employees want a break in their insurance costs, too.
Nine retirees who are covered under the county's insurance program plan to approach the Board of Supervisors Monday night to ask for the same assistance active county employees are receiving for their insurance plans. Since the county changed insurance plans in May, the retirees say, the cost is just too high.
``We have to take every penny from our pocket right now,'' said 44-year-old Doug Mayhew, a former sheriff's deputy. ``They don't help us at all.''
Bedford County Administrator Bill Rolfe said that even though the nine retirees are eligible to join the county insurance plan, the county does not cover their costs.
"Whatever the plan costs, they have to pay for it," Rolfe said. "We don't subsidize."
Mayhew, who has had back surgery four times since retiring on disability in January 1995, must pay the full $250 premium for single-employee insurance, even though the county has agreed to pick up $187 of the costs for active county employees. This means that while current county employees pay $63 a month for their single-employee coverage, Mayhew and other retirees must pay about four times as much for the same plan.
County retiree Johnny Martin, whose insurance covers himself and his wife, will owe $540 a month rather than the $311 active county workers will pay - a $229-a-month difference.
``It really is not going to cost the county a lot of money'' to cover retirees' costs, Mayhew said. ``The county has a contingency fund of $325,752. So there is money there to cover the expense. The most it could cost the county right now [for the nine retirees] is $21,000 per year or $1,776.02 per month."
Botetourt County and Roanoke County pay up to the single-employee rate for their retirees' insurance. Retirees in those counties are responsible for paying for additional coverage for spouses or children.
Bedford County's health insurance problems began in May when Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield said it would raise the county's rates by as much as 60 percent because of the high number of expensive, long-term illnesses among county employees.
Bedford County switched insurance to Mid-Atlantic Medical Services Inc. under a new plan organized by the Virginia Association of Counties, but rates still climbed by 30 percent to 40 percent.
Alan Bayse from Bayse & Co. Benefit Consultants, which represents more than 70 companies in Southwest Virginia, said the alternatives for Bedford County retirees are limited.
``Retirees remained in the county plan because it was less expensive in most cases. Now, the cost is up and becoming unacceptable to the early retirees, but options outside the group are most likely worse,'' Bayse said. ``An individual insurance plan is so expensive they can't afford it.
``The retirees who are healthy are probably not on this plan. If they are not healthy, it's probably a bargain.''
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