Over the next 3 years, the City of Chandler wants to raise what we pay for health insurance by as much as 708%.  Depending on your plan, you could pay up to $2,214.12 more per year.
 
SEIU and City management representatives have spent many hours at the bargaining table discussing the impact of the City's proposed move to self-insurance - a move SEIU supports. 

Self-insurance cuts out the insurance company middle-man (last year Aetna made $1.3 billion in profits!), and means the City will start reimbursing our health care providers directly.  This cuts out the insurance company's high administrative fees and exorbitant profit margin.  
 
But how much of that savings will come back to employees and our families?  
 
While the City's premiums will go down, the City proposes to start charging us 20% of premium costs. The current SEIU memorandum of understanding guarantees that "the City will pay 90% of any increase and employees will pay 10% of any increase in health insurance costs." 

Paying 20% of the premium is not just double the current 10% of the increase. This last year, since the premium did not go up, we didn't pay any more.  But next year, when the cost of self-funded premiums goes down, the City wants us to pay as much as three times more.
 
The chart below shows what the City's proposal would mean for our health insurance costs:

For example, let's use the employee and children under the HMO plan.  In the first year (2011), by switching to self-insurance, the City will realize a savings of almost 27%. Sounds great, right?   Here's the catch:  looking to the column titled How much more would City pay Next Year", we see that the City's cost per month goes down (by 36%) while the City proposes an increase in the employee's share.
 
Right now, an employee insuring children through the HMO pays $21.65 a pay period.  Under the City's proposal, the cost would increase in 2011 to $95.63 a month - a jump of 104%!!  So the City saves a huge amount, and passes on an increase to employees.
 
For most of us, our health insurance is as important as our wages, retirement benefits, and job security.  And in a year when the City is offering no wage increases, we question a proposal that would cut employee take-home pay while the City saves money. 

Chandler employees, what do you think about this?