Spouses added to quit-tobacco class
Spouses added to quit-tobacco class
County officials hope a class to help employees quit tobacco can save them more in health-care benefit costs by letting spouses enroll.
“If statistics are true, we are going to save about $287 per year per person in claims,” said Lois Miller, Rutherford County’s director of insurance. There are 4,200 government and school-district workers on the health-care plan.
She noted survey results suggesting how many more would take the class if spouses could sign up. About half the employees on the health-insurance plan have spouses on their insurance.
The County Commission approved the plan last week to permit spouses to sign up for the quit-tobacco class.
The county began offering the course two years ago, and 23 workers out of the 33 who have taken the class have managed to stay off tobacco.
Miller told the commission roughly 12 percent of the county workforce smokes.
