<prompt> Human: I work in Washington D.C. currently, and open enrollment has arrived for many of us. I was shocked to learn from my company that the semi-monthly payroll deductions for PPO will be increased by 70 for low-salary workers, while the top salary employees will see a 40 rise in their deductions in 2016.Can someone explain how such a steep increase could possibly happen in the course of one year? Im not very knowledgeable about the subject at hand, and any wisdom would be appreciated.  <response>: It could be that your employer has been heavily subsidizing the true cost of your insurance premiums, so that you have only been paying a relatively low portion in past years. If they decided they would like employees to pay a larger share for whatever reason, then theyre going to increase deductions in the new year. The reality is that employers arent required to pay any portion of your insurance, so theres that.The 70 thing is meaningless without numbers attached. If my employer raised by semi-monthly insurance contribution from 20 to 34, I wouldnt think thats a big deal and Id be overjoyed that my employer paid most of my premium. If my employer raised it from a current 300 to a 510, yeah, thats a bigger deal and it would be nice if they could have phased in the contribution increases over a two-year period. 