Northport Seeks AG Opinion Over Health Insurance For Elected Officials

NORTHPORT, AL — The Northport City Council on Monday approved a resolution that will request an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General regarding health insurance for city elected officials.

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The resolution states that some current elected officials previously inquired about obtaining health insurance through the city f they paid the entire cost of coverage from their personal funds.

The matter was previously discussed at the April 17 meeting of the Northport City Council's Administrative Committee and received a favorable recommendation.

The formal request states that the city is self-insured for medical insurance coverage and employees pay a portion of the cost, while the city pays the balance for medical coverage.

The City of Northport reports that its monthly individual coverage is $933.83 and the total monthly cost for family coverage is $1,046.60.

"Since the City is self-insured, the City can provide the option of health insurance coverage to our elected officials if the City wishes to do so," City Attorney Ron Davis wrote in the request. "Some of the elected officials have asked if they could be added as insureds to the City's health insurance policy if they paid the entire premium to the City each month? There would be no additional cost to the City since it is a group policy with over 300 participants, adding two or three new individuals would not impact the City's cost."

What's more, if this option was allowed, Davis said elected officials would only be eligible for the coverage while they were serving the city in an elected capacity.

If the office holder does not seek reelection, their coverage would be terminated at the end of their current term, as would be the case if they ran for re-election and lost.

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