 For nearly six weeks this past fall, Pike County government employees were without coverage, insurance coverage. According to documents obtained through an open records request submitted by EKB News, the county's insurance coverage for employees was terminated December 8th after the county missed his November policy payment to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The documents show Anthem contacted the county several times between November 16th and the date of termination in an attempt to collect payment and keep the coverage active, but the $5,195 payment was not made and the contract for insurance coverage was terminated December 8th with an effective date of October 31st. That means any insurance claims submitted after October 31st for medical, dental, liability and anything else covered under the current contract would not be covered. And the reason for non-payment, of course, money. It's just a juggling act at this point. County Treasurer John DeBilliter said the payment for insurance, which was a major part of the county's budget discussions last year, was missed because there simply wasn't enough money to pay the county's insurance premium and make the payroll for county employees. Sort of like you do at home whenever you open the mail and we'll wait the next month on this or we'll do this and we can put this towards it. It has been a juggling act since this physical year started. But the happy ending to the situation was that thanks to a clause in the county's contract with Anthem, the county had a grace period of sorts to pay its late payment and to have its contract reinstated. And that's what happened. The county employee's insurance coverage was reinstated on December 29th with a backdated effective date of October 31st. I had to make sure I had enough with the payroll, the Anthem, and I knew that there was, I could get it reinstated. Unfortunately, it got to the point that they did terminate us as of 1031, but I do have a letter that states we are back as of 1031 active with November and December both being paid because of the nice collections that the sheriff had for the 15 days in November. Builder said with this latest situation, the county has now used up its two chances per its contract with Anthem to miss a payment and have its contract terminated and then have it reinstated. Meaning this situation has happened previously over the past 12 months. And Builder said even with a good tax collection period by the sheriff's department, financial strains caused largely by declining coal and mineral severance funds are sure to continue. We got used to something and whenever it's no longer coming in, you know, you got to tighten your belt and pull everything back. So we were used to running with a lot more people. We just need to make sure we've got money in the bank. I may need to be a little more proactive with making sure the insurance gets paid. Some other things may have to go by the wayside. It's just a juggling act at this point. I try to keep everybody happy and sometimes you can't keep everybody happy by trying to do that. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Chris Anderson.