Today the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Board of Trustees voted to continue the practice of not adding any riders to the health insurance policy for the Library’s full-time employees. The vote by the six present members of the seven-member Board during their bi-monthly meeting at the Corryville Branch Library was unanimous.
Potential riders include transgender health services, gastric bypass surgery, and infertility medical treatment and prescriptions. Library health insurance costs already are increasing 8.7 percent for the upcoming year, and the addition of these riders to the Library’s health insurance policy would add approximately $250,000 per year in additional expenses to the Library and its employees.
“Given the recent downward trend in state funding, the Board feels the fiscally responsible action is to exclude the addition of any riders. Excluding all riders continues our past practice, keeps management or the Board from picking and choosing from a number of riders and helps control rising health insurance costs,” said Elizabeth H. LaMacchia, president of the Board of Trustees.
The Library has 471 full-time employees eligible for health insurance coverage, and 410 of those employees are currently enrolled in the policy. A new policy year begins Aug. 1.
