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Employees, professors feel insurance pains |
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Tuesday, 23 October 2007 |
 | Newmark
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by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
When it comes to state employee health insurance, North Carolina does not have one of the top ten cheapest annual premiums in the nation, but doesn’t qualify as one of the worst either.
However, as of 2004, the state ranked eighth nationally in the number of uninsured people under age 65. That’s more than 1.1 million fellow North Carolinians lacking basic coverage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures Web site.
Dr. Adam J. Newmark is an assistant professor in the political science department.
He sees the state’s expensive reputation firsthand, mainly because he
watches almost $500 removed from his paycheck per month to pay for his,
his wife and daughter’s medical coverage.
That number does not include money shelled out for dental, vision, and prescription expenses.
Professors, lecturers and staff alike at Appalachian State University
are provided the same health care insurance options by the North
Carolina State Health Plan.
Three main plans—“Smart Choice” Basic, Standard, or Plus—are available
to choose from, with a total of nine options for coverage based on
family size (employee, employee plus spouse, or employee plus spouse
and children), according to the North Carolina Teachers’ and State
Employees’ Comprehensive Major Medical Health Plan for 2007.
An indemnity plan is also offered, which provides catastrophic plan coverage but has no preferred provider networks.
All claims for North Carolina state insurance are run through Blue
Cross Blue Shield, Human Resource Benefits Administrator Angie D.
Miller said.
Appalachian State does not have the authority to enhance its health insurance benefits.
Miller said roughly 90 percent of faculty and staff at the university
opt for the standard coverage option, whether it be employee-only or
family coverage.
One thing for students to keep in mind is that once they are no longer
considered full-time students by their institution, they can be dropped
from their parents’ insurance.
Senior computer science major Ying F. Chu said his plans changed
slightly when his parents received a form from their insurance company
stating that he would not be a full-time student (less than 12 hours at
Appalachian) for the upcoming semester. So, he added a class.
“I think they had to send an enrollment verification back [to the insurance company] so that I wouldn’t be dropped,” Chu said.
According to the National Conference of State Legislature’s Web site,
civil servants hired in North Carolina after Oct. 1 will have to work
20 years before qualifying for 100 percent state-paid medical coverage.
The length of time was previously a wait period of only five years.
While acknowledging that the university does “a decent job with limited
resources,” Newmark has had problems in the past with his state
coverage.
Faculty and staff are not permitted to use Health Services, a center only for students.
However, they can purchase a Health Savings Account, or HSA - an
employee incentive that allows them to put money aside for future
medical expenses and offers tax-favored opportunities on pre-approved
medical items.
Newmark said he has been denied numerous times for items supposedly covered in his HSA this year.
“My wife had the forms and receipts organized in spreadsheets—it
couldn’t have been organized any clearer, and the state would send them
back saying that they couldn’t read the receipt [for diapers and other
items],” he said.
Newmark said since he began teaching at Appalachian four years ago, his
take-home pay has not decreased overall because, along with the cost of
his premiums his salary has seen gradual yearly increases.
Blue Cross Blue Shield representative Lawrence R. Smith said state
health insurance premiums have increased by over 100 percent in the
past five years.
In addition, insurance premiums have risen three times faster than inflation during this time, Smith said.
The Center for State and Local Government awarded a grant of $377,000
in August to North Carolina State University to assess the status of
state and local government health care benefits and alternative plans
and approaches.
The center, according to N.C. State’s Web site, is hoping to determine
just how widespread the problem of under-funded health care and
non-pension retirement benefits promised to state employees is.
It also hopes to assess costs and future liabilities if potential remedies are theorized.
Miller said Appalachian State did not receive any such money from the center.
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