Health plan ignites debate

The St. Bonaventure University health insurance options available to faculty and staff effective January 2009 have many university employees struggling to swallow the increase in insurance costs and the administration's lack of communication.

"The new health insurance plan is not going to break me, and I won't be as hurt as a lot of people, but I fear people will choose to not get health insurance because of the new high costs," Karen Robbins, assistant professor of history and chair of the Faculty Senate's Compensation Committee, said.

The university's health care provider, Independent Health, provided the university with the premiums increases for 2009. Administrators anticipated an increase of 20 percent; Independent Health presented the university with a 47 percent premium increase for single coverage and a 41 percent increase for family coverage, according to a Nov. 18 newsletter from Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., university president.

Brenda Snow, senior vice president for business and finance, wrote in an e-mail that she wasn't happy with the rate increase but wrote she feels the university has identified the best option available under the circumstances.

The 2009 health insurance options provided by Independent Health offer a new plan, i-Direct, to replace the Flex Fit Select plan.

The Flex Fit Select plan was the cheapest of the three plans offered to employees for the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years. The new i-Direct plan is more expensive than the Flex Fit Select but still the cheapest of the three offered plans. Under the i-Direct plan, university employees have to pay a deductible of $1,500 for single coverage and $3,000 for family coverage, according to the newsletter.

Under the old Flex Fit Select plan, employees did not have to pay the cheaper deductible unless having a large medical procedure, Robbins said.

Now, under the i-Direct plan, the deductible must be paid if the coverage holders want their insurance to cover the cost of their medical expenses.

The university has offered to assist employees by paying half of the deductible, $750 for single coverage and $1,500 for family coverage.

Stanley said with the i-Direct plan, employees have a Health Savings Account (HSA). An HSA is a savings account where employees are able to deposit a portion of their check into an account to pay for medical expenses. The money put into an HSA is taken out of an employee's check untaxed and stays in the HSA until spent or taken out.

Faculty expressed concern for hourly employees regarding the HSA. If an employee, specifically an hourly paid employee, has a large expense at the beginning of the year there may not be enough money in the HSA to cover it, Stanley said. The insurance company won't pay for the medical expense unless the deductible has been paid for.

The Compensation Committee met Nov. 10 and discussed the plan options with Snow under the assumption that negotiations and further investigation were going to continue, Robbins said.

Snow signed the contract for the new health insurance plan options Nov. 11. On Nov. 14 the Compensation Committee learned the plan had been signed, Robbins said.

Snow said she signed the agreement Nov. 11 to allow Independent Health to begin producing materials and securing desired dates for filing paperwork.

"There simply were not other options within our budget, but we will continue to investigate every opportunity for the provision of better coverage in the future, and we welcome faculty and staff input and ideas," Snow wrote in an e-mail.

At Monday's Faculty Senate meeting, attendees discussed the new plan and the concerns about the lack of communication between administrators, faculty and the Compensation Committee.

"The insurance program is managed by the business office and (the) fact is faculty and staff were not included in the discussion, and decision making reflects decisions made in that office," Stanley said.

Sister Margaret apologized to the faculty at the meeting.

"As I have reviewed the situation and the multiple communications across campus in the last two weeks, I realize that there is a huge feeling that the communications of this were not welcoming," Sister Margaret said. "Did I miss an opportunity to say we need to invoke an extraordinary process of communication? Yes, I did. For that I apologize."

Stanley said he was grateful for Sister Margaret's apology.

"Yes, there was a lack of communication, and the fact that Margaret could see that and apologized for it is a credit to her," Stanley said. "At the time, they knew there were problems the Compensation Committee should have been involved with." Employees under the i-Direct plan all have the same benefits, which results in all of the premiums being the same price for everyone. Hourly workers and some faculty members will need assistance meeting the deductible so they may use their health insurance, Richard Reilly, associate professor of theology and chair of the Faculty Senate, said.

Currently, faculty members are looking for ways to assist employees of the university, especially hourly workers, who need help meeting the deductible so the employee may use the plan he or she signed up for, Reilly said.

"My personal worry is that hourly employees won't be able to benefit from the health insurance offered," Reilly said. "They may not be able to match the university's half of the deductible and thus not be able to use the plan."

Robbins agreed the campus community needs to create a feasible solution toward helping employees pay the i-Direct deductible.

"We have a community problem, and I am beyond pleased that members of the community have stepped forward with ideas and offers to participate in the solution of the problem," Robbins said.