Small towns struggle with covering health insurance increases

Lisbon, ND (WDAY TV) – Blue Cross Blue Shields' rate hikes are having a far reaching effect. Small towns are scrambling, deciding how to cover 35 percent health insurance premium increases. WDAY 6 Reporter Stephanie Goetz tells us how one town is dealing.

Randy Seelig goes door to door each month, checking water meters for the city, a job that's been made easier by the latest technology.

"Yeah, we can just point it at a house and read the water use."

But a big benefit of his city job is getting dicey. Starting in January, the city will have to pay out 27,000 dollars more each year in health care benefits to city workers because of a 35 percent Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance rate increase.

"It’s a substantial amount of money."

The city has decided to foot most of the bill for now. It will also cut back on employee raises.

“You can't just hit them and say, 'OK, now you're not going to get health insurance coverage.' so we backed off in one space to make up in another space."

The city pays 100 percent of the nine city workers' health plans, meaning some tough decisions down the road.

"It’s hard to cut back in other areas because, you know we can't have, you know mowing yards is important too and paving streets and keeping up sewer and water."

"We do not want to tax our taxpayers any more than we have to."

Decisions city leaders say they'll be looking at next year to decide how to cover the thousands in health care costs so that employees, like randy, will continue to be fully covered.

The 35 percent rate increase is locked in for the next two years.