LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The City of Henderson and its first responder unions have reached a tentative agreement that changes how retiree health care is paid for, phasing out a monthly subsidy in favor of individual health savings accounts.
Retirees currently receive between $300 and $500 a month to help pay health insurance premiums through a program called RHIPA. That program was projected to run out of money by 2037.
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Under the new tentative agreement, the monthly RHIPA check goes away. In its place, the city will boost contributions into each employee’s Retirement Health Savings, or RHS, account.
An immediate $24.20 per pay period will be redirected from the old fund. An additional $9 per pay period, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026, will also be added. That additional amount is scheduled to grow to $11 in 2027 and $14 in 2028.
Current retirees and employees with at least 10 years on the job will also receive a one-time lump sum into their RHS accounts based on years of service, ranging from 30% to 100% of what they have paid in.
Retirees already receiving the monthly subsidy will have a three-month grace period before those payments stop.
Some retirees and family members submitted public comment opposing the change ahead of a Sept. 1, 2026 Henderson City Council meeting.
Tammy Swafford, wife of medically retired Henderson firefighter Dale Swafford, wrote that her husband currently receives $500 per month through RHIPA and that losing the assistance would cost their family $6,000 a year. “A three-month grace period is not a meaningful transition for families facing a permanent loss of hundreds of dollars each month,” her letter read.
Scott Majewski, who retired from the City of Henderson in March 2022, also shared during public comment that eliminating the benefit would strain former employees. “Expecting individuals on fixed incomes to adapt to major financial burdens on such short notice is unreasonable and undermines the trust built between the city and its former public servants,” he wrote in a letter.
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