BATON ROUGE - The Metro Council voted Wednesday night to approve a proposal to switch the city-parish retirees' health coverage to a private Medicare Advantage program, a move expected to save the local government more than $19 million.

All but one of the seven council members present voted to pass the plan.

Councilman Darryl Hurst was the sole no vote. He raised concerns about the lack of sufficient notification to retirees and the potential impact it can have on those with serious medical conditions.

"They want them to opt out and not being so, imagine somebody who needs to be on an organ donor list and has to go through a transplant, or somebody who has strong cases of cancer and the plan is not covered, so there were a lot of things for me that weren't answered. I'm not against Medicare advantage if it's for the right person, they've answered all my questions to say is good," Hurst said.

Hurst also worries that this could open up a lawsuit from the retirees.

"In the same three to four months, we want people to know that they can opt out. Why can't we notify them to opt in? Instead of forcing them into this plan, if they don't respond in 90 days, they are stuck with it," he said.

Councilman Aaron Moak supports the plan and weighed in on approval being held up.

"Anything that we do as a council, you have a problem that you might get sued for any little thing, you pass an ordinance, you might get sued, you pass a resolution, you might get sued, " Moak said. "I can't hold up everything with the anticipation that I may get sued."

Hurst is now pushing for an opinion from the attorney general, something that does require approval from council members. Hurst says he has asked the mayor to submit the request to the president's office, which could speed up the process.

A special meeting will be held next week to vote on the plan, as any changes to the retirement plan must be approved by Oct. 1.