EDITORIAL: Extend insurance for slain cop’s family

Feb. 15--View Comments

Deputy Micah Flick gave his life while working to keep us safe. His wife and 7-year-old twins will endure the pain of loss for the rest of their lives.

The very least we can do, as taxpayers the officer died for, is provide long-term continuation of the health plan he earned as part of his compensation.

Gunfire killed Flick during a sting operation last week, making him the third Front Range sheriff's deputy killed in the line of duty since Dec. 31.

His wife, Rachael, expressed public concern during the funeral Saturday about caring for the couple's kids without her husband's support.

A Gazette story Tuesday shocked the public by explaining the widow and children could lose health benefits next month because Deputy Flick no longer works.

Nearly 585,000 able-bodied Colorado adults receive full Medicaid benefits without a requirement to work. Meanwhile, the Flick family could go uninsured because their husband and father took a bullet while serving the common good.

Yes, it is sickening.

El Paso County's health plan trust board will decide Thursday whether to extend Deputy Flick's health benefits, and we cannot fathom board members opposing the idea.

The board should make quick work of extending the officer's insurance for years. Ideally, they will continue this benefit until the children are adults or his widow has family coverage from another arrangement.

Board members should explain they are not making a law or setting precedent for all public employees. As they grapple with this case, they should demand policy from elected officials to guide future decisions when first responders are killed by their jobs.

Cost is not a serious concern in the case of the Flicks.

Each of El Paso County's 675,000 residents generates county tax revenue, including infants who consume taxable goods. With one penny from each resident, the county could insure Flick's family for a year. One penny each year.

As seen too frequently, first responders risk their lives each time they answer a call to protect our property or lives.

Elected officials need to have reasonable and compassionate policies in place to protect basic benefits for survivors enduring the upheaval and despair of losing loved ones to emergency service.

We should never again hear of a cop's survivors losing health care just weeks or days after suffering a tragic loss.

No more should survivors of dead first responders suffer like the family of former Colorado State Patrol Trooper Cody Donahue.

A truck hit and killed Donahue during a traffic stop in the narrow gap of Interstate 25 south of Castle Rock on Nov. 25, 2016. His wife and daughters lost their insurance six days later as they awaited the funeral for their husband and father.

"I felt punched in the gut," said Donahue's widow, Velma, as quoted in Colorado Politics last week.

After first responders die for protecting us, the survivors need time to figure out life. Often the challenge involves a single parent providing for children while pursuing higher education or another means of career preparation.

The death of a breadwinner can disrupt family life for decades.

Colorado legislators should consider guaranteeing long-term insurance benefits for first responders, killed in the course of protecting our lives, throughout Colorado. Otherwise, local officials need to work this out within jurisdictions throughout the state.

We count on firefighters and cops to solve our problems within moments of our calls. They place our lives ahead of their own, without hesitation. Their willingness to serve enables us to sleep at night and go about our lives.

They don't sacrifice alone. When they pay the ultimate price, their families must go on. Let's not leave them uninsured as they cope with sacrifices made on our behalf.

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