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Source: Asbury Park Press, N.迷你倉沙田J.Aug. 23--MIDDLETOWN -- Need a heart transplant? It's free if you're a Middletown employee.Catch a nasty cold and want to see the doctor? That's almost free: just a $10 co-pay.Middletown Township's health benefits are so good that its insurance broker joked the coverage would fall under a nonexistent "Double Diamond" rating on the Affordable Care Act's four-tier ranking. (That ranking actually includes Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum coverage.)The township's benefit plan came under scrutiny this week after the Asbury Park Press learned that officials have been reducing hours for part-time workers to avoid offering insurance required when provisions of the health care act kick in.At least a few Middletown residents were incredulous about the $31,000-per-year cost of the township-provided health benefits, so much so that they assumed the cost cited in Wednesday's Asbury Park Press was wrong.It wasn't. The number represents the maximum Middletown would have to pay if an employee opted for family coverage and a number that includes dental care, Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante said.Using the $31,000 figure, it could cost Middletown up to $775,000 to offer health benefits for the 25 employees whose hours were cut.If those employees opted to insure just themselves or, say, just a spouse or just a child, the amount would be lower, Mercantante said.But even if the amount were half of the $775,000 estimate, it would be too much to suddenly add to the township's budget if it didn't have to, he said."It's irresponsible to suddenly decide you are going to spend that much money when there is no revenue to pay for it," he said.As it is now, Middletown, which is self-insured, expects to pays about $9.3 million this year for employee and retiree health bills, about 14 percent of its overall $67.9 million budget. Employee contributions are expected to offset about $520,000 of that cost.The township's costs represent about 18 percent of the municipal tax levy. It costs about $337 for taxpayers who own an average Middletown home worth $375,500.For that cost, employees have no deductible for using doctors in network of QualCare, the firm Middletown uses to handle its health bills.The township pays all of the cost for items like semi-private hospital roo迷你倉價錢s, surgery, emergency room visits (unless they aren't actual emergencies), X-rays and organ transplants, according to the schedule of benefits in Middletown's employee handbook. It does not cover procedures like abortion unless the mother's life is endangered, cosmetic surgery unless the condition is due to an accidental injury, sex changes or obesity unless it is medically necessary for morbid obesity.When a co-pay is required, it's $10.But even if an employee decided to use out-of-network doctors, Middletown employees are required to pay 80 percent of the cost after meeting, in most cases, a $200 deductible for family coverage. Police officers have a $400 out-of-network deductible for family coverage.That would be what's considered high-cost coverage, which had been referred to as "Cadillac coverage" during the health care reform debates, said Gary Claxton, a vice-president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focusing on the major health care issues."That's not what most people have," he said.The average health care costs in the Northeast is $17,441 for family coverage and $6,117 for single coverage, according to the 2013 survey of employer-sponsored insurance by Kaiser and the Health Research & Educational Trust.That survey shows that employees of large firms have, on average, an $884 deductible for in-network, single coverage, while the average deductible is $1,715 for employees of small firms.On average, workers pay a $23 co-pay to see primary physicians and $35 for specialists, the survey showed.It's not just Middletown that offers better-than-average coverage. Middletown's offerings are comparable to benefits offered in the New Jersey's State Health Benefits Plans. The State Department of Treasury, which administers those plans, was not able to provide cost breakdowns for single and family coverage by the end of business Friday.Asbury Park, which is not cutting back its part-time employee hours to avoid offering health coverage, participates in one of the state benefits plans. Health benefit costs range from $10,281 to cover a single person to $25,702 for family coverage.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Asbury Park Press (Neptune, N.J.) Visit the Asbury Park Press (Neptune, N.J.) at .app.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉