Editor,
I feel it prudent to comment on how the University of New Mexico has manipulated its employee health care to the point of redundancy.
As a cancer patient, I am required to have outpatient hospital tests four times per year. My doctor, who is on the approved provider list, recently referred me for one of my tests. I was shocked to receive a co-payment invoice for 20 percent of the bill.
When I asked why, I was told I was charged because I went to Presbyterian Hospital instead of UNM Hospital.
We were told that if we did nothing during the enrollment period and had the Presbyterian plan, we would be automatically moved to UnitedHealthcare, which was taking over. What we were not told was that to avoid expensive co-payments, we would have to go to UNM Hospital.
Apparently, my options are to go to UNM Hospital, which I have never been to, or pay a large deductible to go to the hospital that has treated my cancer successfully for more than eight years.
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What this appears to say to the employee is that if you don't use a UNM facility or can't afford to use another facility, your health is not that important. I know there are many other employees in the same predicament, and I think this policy will backfire on UNM at some point. It seems inevitable that the employees that can't afford to keep pace with preventive medicine will be diagnosed with some illness after it has progressed too far.
While I agree that it is in the interests of the University to manage health care costs, it is not in their best interest to try to manage employee health - that is better left to the doctors.
L.H. Crum
UNM staff
