Town sees slight hike in premiums

Town employees are making fewer visits to the doctor, resulting in a modest increase in health care premiums.

Bennington Town Manager Stuart A. Hurd said the Blue Cross Blue Shield premiums for town employees will rise just 1.2 percent, significantly lower than the average health insurance plan.

Stuck with BCBS

The town stuck with BCBS in 2006 when the Vermont League of Cities and Towns jettisoned the insurer and switched its health trust to CIGNA. The switch was made because BCBS was about to impose a 36 percent rate increase. However, there was an "overwhelming employee desire" to stick with BCBS and leave the trust, Hurd said.

"Their provider was not a provider that we wanted to be with at that time," he said.

The move appears to be paying off. VLCT Executive Director Steve Jeffrey said the health trust offers a variety of health insurance plans. On average, rates rose 8.4 percent in January 2008, and 19.7 percent in January 2009.

During that same time, health premiums for Bennington town employees rose 6 percent and 14 percent, respectively, according to Hurd.

The health trust's rates have not yet been factored for the coming year, Jeffrey said. However, the expected increase should be lower than recent increases. Health care rates have been growing at about three times the cost of living, he said.

The increase is likely to be higher than Bennington's, however, he said. "That's the anomaly,"

Jeffrey said.

Bennington is rated as its own health care group because it has more than 50 employees, Hurd said. The town's rates are based mostly on how much the plan is utilized. "If you use your health care, your rates are going to go up," he said.

Town employees used the plan wisely, according to Hurd.

"We sat down with our agent and went over all the numbers. Across the board, use was down. Use of non-generic prescription drugs was down. Everything moving in the right direction," Hurd said.

One of the reasons use has dropped is because the town has been more proactive with wellness programs and education, according to Hurd. He said the town's local insurance agent met with employees twice to talk about what is driving premiums higher, and what can be done to slow the increase.

A notable change was the use of referrals from primary care physicians when visiting the local emergency room.

"If you have a sick child on a weekend and you run that child to the emergency room, there is a different charge than if you were to call your doctor and he said to go to the emergency room," Hurd said.

In addition, Michelle Johnson, the town's human resources director, has worked "aggressively" with BCBS to incorporate wellness programs, Hurd said.

Some expenses, such as annual procedures, cannot be reduced. Hurd said colonoscopies and mammograms are expensive and drive health care costs, but are essential to prevent further costs. Most town employees require regular procedures.

"One of the things that hurts us as a health care group is that we are an aging group. We have a lot of longtime employees. Many of us are in our 40s or older. The body begins to change," he said.

Hurd cautioned that rates could increase more in subsequent years. Health care costs have been rising at about three times faster than the cost of living, which actually shrank this year. Use of health benefits is likely to vary from year to year as well.

"This year we were fortunate. I wouldn't say that this was a trend. Depending on what happens to our group, we may find our rates going up next year," he said.