Evansille to have free clinic for nonunion workers

EVANSVILLE – A top city official expects a new free health clinic for nonunion city employees and their dependents will result in savings for the city within a year and a half.

George Fithian, the city’s executive director of administrative services, said health care savings aren’t the only goal behind creating the clinic – it also should boost productivity – but he was confident it would produce savings within a year and a half, based on the experiences of other Evansville employers with on-site health clinics.

Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said last week that the free clinic would become available for nonunion employees and their dependents after Jan. 1, when they will have to pay higher health insurance premiums. He said the city would raise premiums by 20 percent in 2010 while freezing their salaries amid other steps to help overcome a projected $8 million budget shortfall. Unionized city employees would not be
affected.

Fithian said during a budget hearing Aug. 10 that the city will pay for the clinic out of an insurance claims fund, budgeted for about $16 million in 2010. The city will contract with Novia CareClinics of Indianapolis to operate the clinic, paying doctors an hourly rate rather than by procedures. The clinic also will offer about 30 generic medications.