Employees offered bonus to drop health coverage

Saugus is offering its employees an annual cash incentive to drop out of the town’s health insurance coverage and enroll in a spouse’s plan or other plan for which they are eligible.

Under the “Health Insurance Opt-Out Program,” employees who do not renew their health insurance during the enrollment period that ends on May 10 will be in line to receive $3,000 per year if they have a family plan or $1,200 for an individual plan. The money will be paid out at the end of next fiscal year and is contingent on the person still being employed by the town at that time. The employee will be eligible for the benefit in each ensuing year.

To qualify, employees must have been enrolled in a town plan for at least 24 months.

The town will save at least $11,000 for each employee who opts out of the family plan and more than $5,000 for each employee who drops an individual plan, according to Fran Trainor, the town’s administrative services supervisor.

Among those who may be interested in the offer are teachers whose spouses are also teachers but work in different communities, Trainor said.

The plan allows Saugus employees to immediately re-enroll in the town plan if they lose their coverage elsewhere, such as if a spouse is laid off from his or her job.

“We made it very clear that any qualifying event would allow them to jump back on,” Trainor said.

Brookline has had a similar opt-out program since 2008.