Raise? what raise?

I forwarded the happy news to my department that health care premiums are skyrocketing up next year for everyone choosing an HMO. Ours are going up 255% & 250% for the cheapest plan, and we still save money by splitting it between us instead of having one of us cover the whole family.

Ah, the joy of open enrollment season starting next month. The whining will commence (the answer is no, the union has no effect on our rates because we're State employees), and I need to crunch numbers to figure out the effect of this and DCAP vs. child care tax credit. What fun!