City Benefits Administrator Lori Gray says they used a consultant who showed them three ways to save money.

They required the spouses of all city employees to be insured by their employer, rather than by the city's provider;

They offered what's called an HRA, a Health Reimbursement Account with a higher deductible, lower premium, and money put into an account funded by the city for each participant in the plan;,

And a $1.00 over-the-counter drug program for ailments like allergies and high cholesterol.

"This saves the city money and the employee money," says Gray, "because our brand name drug co-pay is $35, so they're automatically saving $34 a month for that brand name drug. Also it saves us the plan money because we're not paying for a brand name drug, we're paying for a over-the-counter script."

The city says the HRA has been the biggest cost-saver.

It has the lowest premium of the plans the city offers, and the highest deductible, plus... $2,100-a-year in the Family Plan employees can use toward health costs.

"And then I also have that safety net of the HRA there," Gray says, "and if I don't use that, say last year I didn't use any of my money, then I can bank that. And then each year I can bank that up, and if I have a bad year, y'know I'll have that money saved up."

And they can keep rolling over that account for five years, to a maximum of $10,500.

"It helps that the employees see more money in the paycheck due to the reduced premium," says city Civic Engineer Kyle Hunt, "and the plan also encourages the individual to be more diligent and responsible in how they spend their health care money. And that translates into more money that the city saves."

So it's economical, but how good is the coverage? And how difficult is it to get reimbursed by the insurance company?

Kyle said he saw no decrease in coverage from their previous group health plan, and city Purchasing Agent Jennifer Portmann also said the coverage was good.

"There wasn't a lot of fighting, Portmann says. "I was dealing with my health and, y'know it's really difficult to have to sit there and argue with insurance companies, and I didn't have to do any of that. They were very easy to work with."

Despite being in the hospital five months last year, Portmann says the city's new plan was still cheaper than when she worked in the private sector.

And Hunt calls it a "win-win situation," saying he only spent $250 out of his own pocket on medical expenses last year.