Health Insurance on the Gov't plan.

Lehigh County is made up of 14 townships, eight boroughs and two cities. The majority of Lehigh County townships are Townships of the Second Class, the subject of this post.

Under the Second Class Township Code, township supervisors, even township supervisors who are not employed by the township, are eligible to have their health insurance paid by the township for themselves and their family. This comes in addition to any meeting pay which they might receive individually.

Health insurance is not the only benefit however. The supervisors and their dependents are also eligible for group life and accident insurance, also paid by the township. The exact proviso follows.

Supervisors, whether or not they are employed by the township, and their dependents are eligible for inclusion in group life, health, hospitalization, medical service and accident insurance plans paid in whole or in part by the township. Their inclusion in those plans does not require auditor approval, but does require submission of a letter requesting participation at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board of supervisors before commencing participation. The insurance shall be uniformly applicable to those covered and shall not give eligibility preference to or improperly discriminate in favor of supervisors. . .

Once a supervisor reaches the age of 65, he or she becomes eligible for medicare. Thus for those supervisors over age 65 paid health insurance becomes moot.

However, a move is now afoot to provide supervisors with supplemental medicare insurance. The move comes in the form of Pennsylvania Senate Bill 894,

As proposed, supervisors and their dependents who are over 65 years of age will now also be eligible for inclusion in supplemental Medicare insurance, paid again by the township.

None of this is applicable in Lynn Township. None of the supervisors in Lynn Township, myself included, accepted health insurance or any other group benefit.

However the approximate cost of family group health insurance based on that provided to Lynn employees runs in the range of $15,000 to $18,000 per family per year. That excludes group life and accident benefits, where they may be provided.

So in the case of a second class township having five supervisors, the cost of group benefits alone for supervisors could aproach 6 figures. That's just an estimate as proven in Wysox Township, population 1763, Bradford County, PA.

But the tab for one supervisor alone in Wysox Township exceeds $35,000. You can read about that controversy here.

According to the same article, 25% of the 655 townships that provided health insurance for their employees, also provided health insurance for their "non-employee supervisors". What about yours?