I did receive this email today….which makes me feel a LITTLE better about the minute “raise” I received….

For organizations offering medical, dental & vision insurance to their staff, this has been a tough year. The cost to the Center alone for providing these benefits has increased 24% from 2001 to 2002.
Our benefits manager has informed us that to combat this increase, many organizations are asking their staff to pay between 10% to 50% of the premium costs for themselves. The impact to each staff member from this cost shifting can easily be as much as $200 per month out of pocket, excluding dependents.
After carefully discussing all the options that the Center has to reduce this large rate increase, the Center has decided to continue to pay the full premium cost for each staff member because we consider affordable health coverage a priority for all our staff.