Iorio: Families of fallen officers will not have to pay for health benefits

For more than a decade, the spouses of Tampa police officers killed in the line of duty have been offered a choice of health insurance plans at no cost to them - three this year.

Last week, the city sent a letter to the widows of three fallen officers explaining that that the because of budget constraints and rising insurance costs, it would only pay the full cost for one plan. Another plan would be offered but the families would have to kick in some money.

Friday evening, Mayor Pam Iorio said in a statement that the issue of health insurance coverage for the survivors of fallen officers was never discussed with her and that the city would continue to provide full benefits to officers' families.

"Regardless of what a staff person from the city has said or communicated to the widows of fallen officers, I can assure you that there will be no cut whatsoever in the health benefits paid to widows of our fallen officers," she said in the statement, which was a response to an early version of a TBO.com story that said survivors of Tampa police officers killed in the line of duty would be required to pay a portion of the health insurance costs.

"I would never agree to a change in any benefits being paid to widows or survivors of our fallen officers," Iorio said.

Free health insurance coverage is required under state law.

The Nov. 12 letter from the city's Risk Management Director Michael Laperche to the widows of three slain officers explained that they still had the option of joining the city's Humana CoverageFirst NPOS plan at no cost to them.

If they instead wished to choose a second plan, Humana HMO Select, they would have to pay $337 a month, his letter said. The city would cover 70 percent of the costs, or about $933 month.

Police union officials, who are in the middle of stalled contract negotiations with the city, portrayed the policy change as a reduction in benefits.

"The city may be following the law, but certainly not following the moral compass that we expect from them," Greg Stout, president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, said in a letter to The Tampa Tribune.

Through this year, the city offered spouses of fallen officers a choice of three Humana health insurance plans, with a commitment to pay the full premiums until they remarried, and for their children until they reached 25, or as long as they are enrolled in school.

In an interview, Laperche said the city was merely trying to curtail rising insurance costs.

"We're not trying to hurt anyone," he said. "Our insurance costs are going up by 12 to 15 percent every year and looking for efficiencies and ways to cut costs wherever we can."

This year, the city paid premiums of $873 a month for each family.

Of the 29 Tampa officers killed in the line of duty, the city has been paying health insurance premiums for only three families.

Those are the spouses and children of: Detective Randy Bell, who was shot and killed in May 1998 while transporting a suspect; Detective Juan Serrano, Mayor Pam Iorio's bodyguard and driver, who was killed by a drunk driver in February 2006; and Cpl. Michael Roberts, who was killed Aug. 19 while investigating a suspicious person.

"If anyone had talked to me about this, that letter never would have gone out," Iorio said in an interview late Friday. "I wouldn't want anyone to think for a moment that I would cut a benefit to a widow or survivor of a fallen officer."

An earlier version of this story reported that survivors of Tampa police officers killed in the line of duty would be required to pay a portion of the cost of health insurance provided by the city. In fact, free health insurance coverage to officers' survivors is required under state law. The city was proposing to limit that free coverage to a single health care plan. Family members would have had the option of choosing a different insurance plan, but they would have been required to pay a portion of the premiums for that option.