Wounded deputy gets $1,500 to help with health insurance

CHAPPELL (AP) — A Deuel County sheriff’s deputy who lost his family health insurance after he was shot four times while serving arrest warrants will get $1,500 from the county.

Mike Hutchinson said Tuesday that he’ll use the one-time stipend to buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

Hutchinson was injured Dec. 3 while trying to arrest a suspect in Big Springs. The suspect was subsequently killed by another officer. Hutchinson left a hospital Feb. 22 and has been recovering since.

But he lost his group plan coverage May 31. The Nebraska Association of County Officials, which provides the county’s group health plan, said Hutchinson’s reduction in hours of employment triggered the termination of his family coverage.

He appealed to the county commissioners at their June 7 meeting for the county to either pay for temporary group coverage or for coverage through the federal marketplace.

“He’s still an employee. He’d work if he could,” his attorney, Randy Fair, said at the meeting. “When you’ve been shot four times, it’s a long road to recovery.”

But officials have said the coverage rules aren’t set by the county. They also have said Hutchinson’s medical bills from the shooting have been covered by workers’ compensation insurance.

Several law enforcement officers attended Tuesday’s meeting to support Hutchinson and serve as a reminder of his and other officers’ service to their communities.

“Officers nationwide have (their) eyes on your decision today. They really do,” said Rob Pride, representing a police union chapter in Loveland, Colorado.

After discussion, the board voted to approve an idea from Hutchinson’s attorney, Fair, for a stipend.

Hutchinson’s wife, Carol, was not pleased.

“I think that it’s the least they can do — and I mean that is literally the least they could do,” she said.

Mike Hutchinson said he bore no hostility toward the commissioners, noting “they have a very hard job to do.”