February 07, 2011

Employer Contribution

In the private industry employers pay towards their employee health insurance a flat dollar amount; for example, the employer will stipulate that they will pay $500 per month for a single plan and 1000.    Employees then pay the difference based on what plan they pick; for example, if an employee decided to go with the 1300 plan, they would pay $300 per month, while someone choosing the 1100 plan would pay 100 per month.

In the City of Worcester, and the GIC, the employer pays a percentage amount.   Lets take the example of a family subscriber in the settled group choosing between  Blue Choice -Fallon Select--Fallon Direct paying 25% of the premium:
  1. Blue Cross       108.24 per week  (total monthly 1,876.19)
  2. Fallon Select     88.02 per week  (total monthly 1,525.64)
  3. Fallon Direct     71.05 per week    (total monthly 1,231.49)
What would the cost be to the City of Worcester (75% of ths cost) depending on what plan they choose:
  1. Blue Cross     1,407.15 per month
  2. Fallon Select     1,144.22 per month
  3. Fallon Direct     923.61 per month  
  • Employee chooses Blue Cross (employer cost 1,409.15) verus Fallon Select (1,144.22), the City of Worcester expends 262.93 more more month, but will only cost the employee 20.22 more per week.   
  • Employee chooses Blue Cross (employer cost 1409.15) versus Fallon Direct (923.61), the City of Worcester expends 483.54 more per month, but will cost the employee only 27.19 more per week
The City needs to look into changing the percentage to a flat dollar amount to accurately reflect the amount being billed.

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