Western Springs Sees Big Spike In Insurance Costs

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs will see a 32 percent jump in health insurance costs next year, an insurance broker said this week.

Organizations across the country are reporting increases in costs, but Western Springs is particularly high, Mike Wojcik of The Horton Group told the Village Board.

Part of the reason is the demographics of the village's employees who get insurance, 20 percent of whom are over 60, he said. Their median age is 48.

"Those are high-cost categories," he said.

The village also has eight large claimants with ongoing cases, with the most costly being $700,000, Wojcik said.

Also, more pharmacy spending is driving the increase, particularly with drugs for weight loss and autoimmune conditions, he said.

The village's insurance carrier is Blue Cross Blue Shield, but Wojcik said all the companies are facing cost increases.

"The carriers have been experiencing conditions far worse than they ever anticipated," he said. "They have actually been operating in the red."

After Wojcik's presentation, Village President Heidi Rudolph said it sounded like the increases are not one-time spikes, but a new normal.

Wojcik responded, "My intel is we probably get another year for sure that we're going to see some hard knocks on the industry."