Health: Unions pressed to accept bigger co-pays
"We can't afford to continue to pay double-digit inflation on health care costs. We must manage this because it's a huge portion of our expenditures."
STEVEN LADD, superintendent of the Elk Grove Unified School District
HEALTH PREMIUMS: PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE
Rising health insurance premiums aren't just a challenge for businesses, but also a growing financial strain for state and local governments. Every sector of the economy has felt the impact.
FROM PAGE Al sacramento Bee 7/15/2010
Last year, the district spent $57 million on health coverage for its employees - more than twice the $28 million it cost five years ago.
To help save jobs, Elk Grove Unified's key unions this year agreed to double employee co-pays for prescriptions and doctors visits. The concessions will save the district millions of dollars and help its classrooms "get through these very dark fiscal times," Ladd said. ___At the Sacramento City Unified School District
The comprihensive health plan offered to city workers rose by 13 percent in the past two years - from $460 monthly in 2008 to the current $520, with about a third of the cost taken from employees' paychecks, said Kimberly Isaacs, the city's benefits manager.
The $60 difference is hardly trivial. If multiplied by the city's 4,500 employees, it adds up to $3.2 million - enough to pay the salaries of about 32 police officers.
Every time premiums go up, city employees have to pay more, Isaacs said. "We've also had to contribute more and more. I have no control over the cost of health care."
Call The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan, (916) 321-1067 for more information
|
AVERAGE MONTHLY COST 2009
!individual Family |
2005Individual Family |
|
State and local governments |
$448 |
$1,144 |
$332 |
$830 |
|
Employee share |
$45 |
$240 |
$30 |
$183 |
|
All industries |
$402 |
$1,115 |
$308 |
$829 |
|
Employee share |
$68 |
MI. |
$49 |
$232 |
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Sacramento Bee
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