SALEM — Health insurance premiums for the city and its workers didn’t increase as much as originally expected — only going up 2.08 percent after city Auditor Betty Brothers budgeted for a 10 percent hike.

“We’re very pleased,” she said, commenting that it’s “like a gift.”

When Anthem, the city’s health insurance carrier, sent their first proposal, the increase to premiums was 4.16 percent. Medical Mutual sent in a proposal for an even lower increase, so the insurance broker from the Morris Agency went back to Anthem and the company cut their proposal in half, remaining as the city’s health insurance carrier for another year, from July 1 to June 30 next year.

Benefits remain the same. Brothers said she always budgets for a 10 percent increase in premiums because there’s no way to know what’s going to happen at renewal time.

“You never know what your renewal is going to be like because of the way the health care is going. I attribute it (the rate) to all of the employees and their preventative care,” she said.

She noted that the paid medical claims for the city totaled $388,113 and prescription claims totaled $80,995 for a total of $469,109. The city and employees paid $808,161 in premiums, for a gross loss ratio of 58 percent.

“That’s why we got such a good rate,” she said.

As part of the program, employees on the plan get a preventative care physical and get to speak with a health coach. There’s also high usage for people going to a gym, including the Salem Community Center and the Fitness Center located in downtown and other facilities. Brothers said she appreciates all that the employees have done in taking advantage of preventative health care.

Employees who started before July 1, 2017 pay 11.5 percent of their premium for medical, with anyone hired after that date paying 15 percent of the premium. Both Brothers and Mayor John Berlin had already been paying 15 percent of the premium for their plans. Also as of July 1, 2017, employees with a spouse can choose the family coverage, but the spouse must pay 50 percent of the difference between a family plan and plan for employee/children. The alternative is for the spouse to get insurance from their own employer.

The monthly rates for premiums for each plan for health include: employee, $394.19 ($45.33 for employee at 11.5 percent and $59.13 for employee at 15 percent); employee/spouse, $866.42 ($99.64 at 11.5 percent and $129.96 at 15 percent); employee/child and employee/children, $665.38 ($76.52 at 11.5 percent and $99.81 at 15 percent); family, $1,216.82 ($139.93 at 11.5 percent and $182.52 at 15 percent). The city pays the balance. The city also pays $30 per employee per month for dental premiums through another plan, with employees pitching in the rest depending on their plan and the city covers the premiums for vision, with monthly premiums ranging from $4.91 to $14.24, depending on the plan.

Berlin said it’s pretty nice that they saved 8 percent of what was budgeted, totaling around $65,000, which will mean a higher carryover for next year.

“We’re very happy with this,” he said.

mgreier@salemnews.net