{"id":12905,"date":"2010-07-19T23:52:36","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T03:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/?p=12905"},"modified":"2010-07-19T23:52:36","modified_gmt":"2010-07-20T03:52:36","slug":"citizens-group-offers-health-benefits-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/2010\/07\/19\/citizens-group-offers-health-benefits-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"“Citizen’s group offers health benefits changes”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Councilwoman<\/p>\n

Press release from Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown:<\/p>\n

“Citizen’s group offers health benefits changes”<\/strong>
\nIncentives encourage\/reward healthy lifestyle<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown, R- at-large, met for several weeks with a group of local business and community leaders to develop strategies to rein in the rising cost of health care for city employees, while giving those employees the tools to live a healthier lifestyle and save taxpayer dollars. The major purpose for these recommendations is intended to assist employees in adopting more and better ways to positively impact their and their family’s health and well being. Living a healthier lifestyle can lead to a longer and higher quality of life which, in turn, may help reduce the need to seek health care for a chronic condition.<\/p>\n

The recommendations developed by the task force were sent to the city administration recently. While these recommendations have no binding power, the task force hopes the administration will give them considerable thought as they begin to look at plan changes for the next open enrollment period for city employees. The city is self-insured and works with a third party administrator to put together annual plans that employees elect to commit to each year. With the cost of health care continuing to plague the city budget, this task force took the experience and knowledge of these members as they shared their insight into “best practices” and workable solutions.<\/p>\n

The members of the task force who worked to bring valuable viewpoints to the group were City Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd; Fort Wayne firefighters Don Niemeyer and Paul Veldman; Jay Miller, CFO of Perfection Bakeries; Mark Hagar, owner of Specialized Printed Products and Hylant Group partners Leigh Smith and Pat Sullivan.<\/p>\n

While recommendations as a whole were not unanimous, there was consensus by the group. The recommendations follow:<\/p>\n