Article 32 - INSURANCE
A.1. Subject to the provisions of this Article, the City, upon the request of
an eligible member, shall provide to an employee the amount of the premium
specified below for individual, two-person or family plan, of one of the following:
Point of Service (“POS”) Plan;
Health Maintenance Organization (“HMO”) Plan;
High Deductible Health Plan with Health Savings Account (“HDHP w/HSA”); or
The City may make additional plans available to members with benefit levels and
premium cost sharing determined by the City in its sole discretion.
The option of the health care plan is at the sole discretion of the City. It is agreed
by all parties that the City reserves and shall have the right to change insurance
carriers provided the benefits to participants are comparable and the City elects the
least expensive plan available to provide such benefits.
Should the City determine that it 1s in the best interests of the City to offer a
“comparable” plan to either option “a”, “b” or “c”, it shall provide at least one
hundred twenty (120) days prior written notice to the Union and documentation of
the cost to members and the benefits that will provided under the comparable plan.
Should the Union determine that the proposed plan is not comparable, the
grievance shall not be subject to the grievance procedure and shall be submitted
directly for arbitration no later than thirty (30) days after the Union 1s notified of
the proposed change to the comparable plan. The grievance shall be heard in an
expedited manner. The decision of the arbitrator shall be binding on both parties.
Comparable Plan Definition: for the purposes of this Article, a comparable plan
means one that offers the same type of benefits, but benefits do not have to be
exactly the same. In addition, the plan must provide reasonable access to health
services and physicians, including specialists and hospitals.
Spouse Rule: Employees who are married to another employee of the city who
also subscribes to a plan will be subject to this rule. This rule requires that an
eligible member whose spouse is covered by another City health care plan elect the
policy under which the eligible member and spouse shall receive health care
benefits. An eligible member and spouse shall not be entitled to receive benefits
under separate City health care plans.
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