Public employees still get a great healthcare deal

Health care costs are increasing for just about everybody these days, including public employees traditionally known as having stellar benefits.

Add the recession and the resulting tight budgets for local governments, and many public employers are seeking higher contributions from their employees for health insurance coverage.

For example, city of Iowa City employees will pay for single coverage - $20 a month - for the first time, and deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums will increase under union contracts recently agreed to that take effect this summer. Those expenses will go up the following fiscal year, too, for bargaining units with multiyear deals.

“The goal of that was to somehow or another abate some of the city's cost, because it's a very expensive benefit,” interim City Manager Dale Helling said.

The current insurance rates for the city are $404 a month for single coverage on most employees. Employees contribute $60 a month for family coverage, with the city's share nearly $1,200.

Employees are still getting a pretty good deal, although public employees sometimes get those lower insurance costs at the expense of higher wages found in comparable jobs in the private sector.

Nationwide, public employees pay less for health coverage than people in the private sector. In 2008, the most recent year information was available, the average employee contribution for family coverage at state and local governments was $2,190 a year, compared with $3,394 in the private sector, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Iowa City's costs are about 2.5 times more than a decade ago, and other public employers have seen similar increases.

The city of Cedar Rapids spent $16.1 million on health insurance coverage for employees for the year that ended in June, which was $10 million more than 10 years earlier.

In response, the city is taking a number of measures to cut down on its costs, including offering wellness programs to encourage people to be healthier and asking the state and health organizations to make it easier to find information on health care facilities, so employees can get the highest-quality care possible.

The city also is asking employees to contribute more to health care coverage, said Conni Huber, the city's human resources director. Bargaining unit employees pay $60 to $70 a month for family coverage, she said. A decade ago, they paid $10 a month at the most, with some paying nothing.

Huber said that while no one likes paying more, employees realize that as the city's health care costs go up, so, too, will the amount they're asked to contribute.

“Overall, while they're not jumping up and down, they understand,” she said of the response.

Capt. Rick Scofield of the Cedar Rapids Fire Department agreed. He's president of the Iowa Professional Fire Fighters, a union group that he said has about 1,450 members.

“We realize the cost of health care (is rising), and we're trying to help out a little bit,” he said, adding that he thought his members across the state have good health benefits.

When comparing benefits, it's important to remember that there are a lot of variables, like premiums, co-payments and deductibles, said Lora Shramek, Johnson County's human resources administrator.

“You might be higher in wages but a little lower in something else,” she said. “It's the whole package.”