At the Shop Steward Educational Conference, Secretary-Treasurer Dave Politte gave a presentation on health care cost; past, present and future projections. The following charts are from the presentation and illustrate the continuing concerns over increasing cost for healthcare benefits. Charts use estimations and projections based on national healthcare cost trends as well as historical data.
The chart above shows the estimated cost of benefits if no adjustments to benefits had been made in 2003 to present.
HEALTH & WELFARE CONTRIBUTION RATES 2000 THROUGH 2016
Blue bar = contribution rate at the beginning of each contract cycle
Green bar = increased contribution rate over the contract cycle
Purple bar = additional contribution rate to fill deficit spending in 2001, 2002, 2003
Red bar = projected contribution rate increase
The chart above indicates the history of the hourly contribution rate for healthcare benefits from 2000 through 2016. Note that reductions in benefits in 2003, 2007 and 2010 resulted in reduced or minimally increased contribution rates in those years.
