Anyone who pays monthly premiums for health insurance knows how steep the monthly fees can be.

City employees currently pay $8 per month for single employee coverage.

Now, the city is faced with a 19% increase in insurance cost and the city is considering passing at least some of that increase on to employees.

The 19% increase would up the cost of single employees’ out-of-pocket monthly fee by $24 per month from $8 to $32 and would increase the family coverage employee out-of-pocket monthly fee from approximately $300 per month to approximately $380 per month based on recent discussions of the board.

Any way you slice it a 19% increase in cost is tough to swallow, no matter how affordable the insurance may be.

While we sympathize with city employees who work hard and deserve good benefits, we also cannot help but notice that $32 per month per single employee and $380 per month per family coverage are actually very affordable rates compared to the out-of-pocket costs most private company employees pay for health insurance.

On top of that, city officials are considering having the city foot a good portion of the monthly fees.

The bottom line, however, is health coverage is expensive and the city seems to have found a good plan that has kept the rates well below what most Americans employed by private firms are paying for health coverage these days.

Even with a 19% increase city employees would still be getting a good deal on health insurance coverage.