Qualified Tulare County employees receive an annual Benefit Amount. The Benefit Amount is the County contribution paid to the employee towards the cost of their employee insurance premiums. The Benefit Amount is a negotiated item by bargaining unit and is the cost of the employee only rate for the Blue Cross $1,000 deductible health plan, the dental plan and the vision plan. The cost of that plan for 2011 is $241.02. Your benefit amount also includes: $0.75 for life insurance Dependent Coverage by Bargaining Unit (BU): BU 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 Employee Only = $0.00 Employee + Spouse = $40.00 Employee + Child(ren) = $40.00 Family = $60.00 BU 2 Employee Only = $0.00 Employee + Spouse = $15.00 Employee + Child(ren) = $15.00 Family = $40.00 BU 9, 10, 11, 19, 21 Employee Only = $0.00 Employee + Spouse = $7.54 Employee + Child(ren) = $6.30 Family = $15.44 Example: Bargaining Unit 1 employee with Employee + Spouse coverage: $241.02 (minimum) + $0.75 (life) + $40.00 (dependent) = $281.77 benefit amount for 2011 All amounts listed above are per pay period amounts. Some bargaining units do not have dependent dollars added to their benefit amount. Some bargaining units have a tiered benefit amount plan according to the coverage level of insurance they choose. Employees can review how their bargaining unit agreed on the benefit amount by reading their current Memorandum of Understanding that is on the Human Resources & Development internet site from the County homepage. Navigate to Represented Units and select the appropriate union/association MOU.