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Ridgewood narrows 2026 insurance spike after employees adopt 'difference card' plan
Summary
Village administrators told the council that introducing a high-deductible plan paired with a 'difference card' cut a projected $3 million jump in group health costs to about $1.1 million; retiree premiums remain a major, separate cost driver with a 32.1% increase.
Ridgewood Village officials told the council on Feb. 2 that a rapid change to employee health-plan enrollment last autumn substantially reduced an otherwise much larger jump in 2026 group insurance costs.
Village Administrator Keith Kaczmark said administration ran a short open-enrollment ‘sprint’ and 178 employees moved to a high-deductible plan paired with an administrative “difference card” that covers employees’ out-of-pocket copays and deductibles. “By doing that, we were able to bring that increase down from $3,000,000 to…
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