Staff report

State Rep. David Thomas, a Republican who represents portions of Trumbull County, introduced legislation to permit any local government, with a focus on the smaller ones, to purchase insurance as part of the state’s plan that he said will reduce costs.

“As I discuss cost savings measures with local governments, often the expense of insurance is a common theme for both employees and the taxpayer,” said Thomas of Jefferson. “It is usually our smaller local governments that struggle to keep these costs in check due to less payers in their insurance pool, but even larger local entities would benefit from this arrangement.”

Thomas’ bill would permit local governments to join the Ohio Department of Administrative Services’ health insurance program. This would allow local government employees to purchase insurance in a much larger pool of participants, reducing costs for the local taxpayer and applying uniform benefits to local government employees, Thomas said.

Thomas said: “The same health insurance we all enjoy should be available for our local government public servants. Each entity can decide if it is better for the taxpayer if they would opt into the state plan or stick with their current plan.”

The bill hasn’t been assigned to a House committee.