UNM faculty and staff health insurance plans are up for bid after eight years of the same service, giving the University an opportunity to change employee benefits.
Administrators and faculty and staff representatives have asked for a variety of health insurance offers from health providers and are interested in offering the most benefits and options at the lowest price, said Susan Carkeek, associate vice president of Human Resources.
To prepare for the process, Human Resources surveyed faculty and staff to find out what they liked and disliked about their health insurance options. The University also is working with the Faculty-Staff Benefits Committee, which has representatives from the Faculty Senate and Staff Council.
"We know that in the survey the faculty and staff said they really liked choice, so we're working on giving them lots of choices when it comes to their health coverage," Carkeek said.
During the past eight years, 5,578 employees chose from four plans that included coverage by Health Maintenance Organizations, commonly known as HMOs, and Preferred Provider Organizations, known as PPOs. Under these traditional plans, an insured employee generally used a primary care physician and required a referral before seeing another doctor or specialist. The plans also limited which doctors and hospitals an employee could visit.
UNM is now requesting a breakdown of what agencies would charge for four different insurance options that would include:
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l The current configuration of three HMO options and one PPO.
l A dual option only plan.
l A dual option plan and an HMO.
l The dual option plan combines the HMO model and an "out of network" benefit. The HMO portion provides for a primary care doctor who coordinates care and referrals to specialists and fees are paid under this portion of the plan as co-payment.
The "out of network" portion of the plan allows the insured employee to chose any physician, hospital or care provider without a referral. The benefits are subject to a deductible and then a percentage of the fees are paid. The employees would chose the HMO or "out of network" plan when they sought the services they needed.
"I think employees, as well as doctors, are frustrated by an HMO model, so we look at the opportunity to offer a completely different plan as something that is very exciting," Carkeek said. "If people want choice, an HMO doesn't provide easy choice. We might be able to offer a whole new range of benefits to employees."
Under the current plan, UNM paid close to $24 million in insurance costs. The least expensive plan for an employee was $41 monthly, while the most expensive cost $337. The University contribution on those plans ranged from $99 to $505. While seeking to diversify coverage and satisfy employees' needs, Carkeek said the University does have to work to control costs.
"Choice costs, or at least that's our hypothesis," Carkeek said. "That's why we are offering lots of different options for companies to bid on so that we can choose a plan that does the best job of meeting our needs."
With constant, complex changes to health care both nationally and locally, Carkeek said it is never a good time to be looking for new health insurance options, but added that the University is trying to make the most of the situation.
"We see it as an opportunity to give employees choice at a lower costs," she said.
The bids are due by the end of January and employees will have an opportunity to offer their feedback on options they would prefer during a town hall meeting Jan. 29 at 3 p.m. in Woodward Hall.
The new plans would go into effect July 1, but Carkeek said the decision must be made by March so that the University can print new literature explaining the new health options to its employees before many faculty members leave campus in May.
Carkeek urges faculty and staff members to attend the town hall meeting so they can learn more about the plans and offer feedback.
"One of the messages we like to get to employees is that we know how important choice is to them and that will be a major factor as we evaluate bid responses," Carkeek said. "We won't be making this a cost-only decision. We realize access is as important as cost."
