Members covered by the NRC/UTU Health & Welfare Plan and the Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan will see their contributions rise by $4.71 per month in 2009 – from $166.25 monthly to $170.96 per month.

The $170.96 monthly employee contribution represents 15 percent of the total premium carriers pay monthly for employee health and welfare benefits. The premium covers medical care, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and dental and vision benefits.

The national plans are negotiated jointly by the carriers and the Cooperating Railway Labor Organizations (CRLO).

"The health-care plans had an extremely favorable trend due largely to the removal from the rolls of some 20,000 ineligible dependents, which trimmed some $30 million from the total costs of plan," said UTU International President Mike Futhey.

"The new employee contribution rate, which is more than $20 lower per month than what was anticipated going into negotiations, also reflects an expectation that railroad claims in 2009 will increase at a lower rate than the national average, owing to the addition of plan improvements designed to reduce the frequency of treatment and severity of illnesses," Futhey said.

These plan improvements include telephone contact with a nurse (the Nurse Line), custom-care coordination, disease management, and strategies for participants to cease smoking and lose weight.

The plans' total monthly premium costs per employee for 2009 will be $1,061.46 for medical care, $12.30 for the life and accidental death and dismemberment premium, $55.98 for the dental premium, and $10 for the vision care premium, or a total of $1,139.74 monthly. Carriers will pay $968.78 monthly, and employees will pay $170.96 per month in 2009.