New budget cuts in the state of Florida have eliminated or trimmed benefits for more than 1,800 state employees.
The cuts, which were part of a bill designed to save the state $70 billion, eliminated free health insurance for state employees, and also capped the amount they can receive in life insurance benefits, according to a report in the Fort Myers News-Press.
Those who received free health care from the state will now have to pay $7 a month for individuals and $30 a month for families, the report said. But another cut saw the life insurance payout capped at just $25,000 rather than a percentage of the employee’s salary.
“All of these things really add up, and it’s tough to keep attitudes up,” public defender Kathy Smith told the paper. “It’s a constant chipping away and a devaluing of the employee.”
Still, there is some good news for those in Florida without adequate life insurance. According to the latest report from LIMRA, which tracks sales of life insurance policies across the country, the price of term-life insurance premiums fell 4 percent in the first quarter of 2010.