Geneva's health insurance going up 6.9 percent

Geneva aldermen are prepared to approve a new medical-insurance contract that will cost the city 6.9 percent more.

The cost could have been higher, if the city hadn't made some adjustments to the plan, according to Stephanie Dawkins, assistant city administrator.

The committee of the whole recommended the $2.4 million medical-insurance contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Monday. Only Alderman Tom Simonian voted against it.

He did so in part because he expects the city will be facing financial difficulties due to the financial problems of the state.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed cutting what municipalities receive from the state income tax. The state has also delayed payment of cities' portions of the motor fuel tax. Simonian said he expects the state will shift some of its burdens on to local governments, which it will have trouble handling because its ability to increase property taxes is legally limited.

"I think we need to get ahead of this tsunami before it hits us," Simonian said.

He questioned how the city determined how much to have employees pay toward their medical coverage. Those taking employee-only coverage pay 10 percent; the rest pay 20 percent.

Dawkins said the percentages were determined by a previous city council. Then, as groups of employees formed unions, those percentages were written in to their contracts, and applied to all city employees.

Blue Cross Blue Shield initially proposed a 11.9 percent increase. The city's insurance broker then shopped for coverage from other companies, and Blue Cross agreed to an 8.9 percent increase. The city then added a co-payment of $75 for urgent care, and doubled the co-pay for specialist-care visits for employees who participate in the two HMO plans. That brought it down to 6.9 percent.

The city, which has 149 employees, had enjoyed five years of little increases, including three where there was no increase at all.

Alderman Don Cummings suggested that for future contracts, the city base employee contribution percentages on employees' individual incomes. People making more money should pay more, he said.

And Alderman Jim Radecki said the city should consider adding a high-deductible plan to its coverage, with a health-savings account option. That would save the city money, he said. Employees would also have a financial incentive to maintain good health, to avoid spending money on health care; and that could lead to lower premiums overall for the group, based on claims records.