As you are aware, health care costs have been increasing substantially over the years, and we strive to offer affordable health care. With BCBS coming back during our renewal with a 53% increase to premiums so we had no other choice then to go with Cigna who offered the lowest increase at 20%. On average EBCO contributes over 56% to all employee’s premiums. Unfortunately, this we had no other option but to share some of this increase with employees to allow EBCO to continue offering health insurance benefits, and we are looking into ways to help lower our renewal rates going forward. One thing EBCO has put into place this year is our wellness program, since programs likes these helps lower cost by finding medical issues in the early stages.
