BATON ROUGE — The city-parish is proposing another increase in health insurance rates in 2027 as the Metro Council prepares to vote on the changes Wednesday.

The proposal comes as 80-year-old Herbert "Bill" Billingsley worries about rising health care costs, especially under Mayor-President Sid Edwards' plan to give raises to all police officers and city-parish employees.

Last year, Billingsley and his wife paid $274 a month for HMO coverage and this year that rose to more than $482.

Under the proposal, existing HMO and POS employee plans could increase about 25 percent while high deductible plans could rise 35 percent. Metro council members will meet Wednesday to discuss possible changes. 

WBRZ reached out to the city-parish human resources office for an explanation about the proposed increase and how retirees could be affected but did not hear back as of this report.

Billingsley says he also tried to get answers from human resources but could not get a premium amount.

Billingsley, who served as a Baton Rouge police officer for three decades, plans to attend a Blue Cross informational meeting at 10 a.m. next Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the Goodwood library in hopes of getting more specific answers about insurance coverage for public retirees.