Soperton City Council Adopts New City Worker Health Insurance

The Soperton City Council adopted a new city worker health insurance plan during their meeting on July 21.

The council adopted a $549 gap plan from Zurich Insurance Group, which was recommended to the council by William Hall, vice president of sales of Taylor Insurance Group. According to Soperton Mayor John Koon, Hall described it as “the top tier plan.”

The plan would cost the city $549 per city worker covered, but as a gap plan, the city will only have to pay $274 per city worker covered. According to Koon, the city’s association with the Greater Vidalia Chamber enabled the insurance rates.

“It’s a great plan, and we were able to get this because we’re partnering with another network of businesses and cities that are also, y’know, that have this insurance,” Koon said. “We will be our own insurer to a certain extent, where we don’t affect everybody else if we have claims, but we are able to lock onto those rates because it comes from a larger network.”

City workers who opt into the insurance will have to carry an extra health insurance card and will only be responsible for the first $3,000 in health costs, after which the health insurance will pay. The insurance will cover health checkups and wellness checks, with office visits on a co-pay.

The health insurance is currently available to 20 city workers, including employees of the street department, water and sewer department, sanitary department, police department, the Soperton City Hall and the fire department. The insurance will only be available for full-time employees, so part-time employees and contractors will not be able to opt into the insurance.

According to Koon, the council adopted the health insurance to better improve employee retention and recruitment, as the city has not offered health insurance since the year 2000. He also hopes to maintain the insurance in the coming years, though the plan will be reevaluated each year to determine its financial viability.

“But right now, financially the city’s in good enough shape, and we project that we’re going to be that way for the next few years anyway, hopefully that we’ll be able to continue this and offer it at a 50/50 ratio,” said Koon.