Benefits

6/25/2009:

I haven’t had time to digest these issues, but the AAU / AFT union people have been raising questions about the switch to a self-insurance health plan. Details here. The Gist:

Starting in January 2010 PEBB will “self insure” our health insurance with Providence as the plan administrator. Providence is a regional company headquartered in Washington state and owned by the Sisters of Providence, a Catholic order. Providence sets up provider network and handles all claims. PEBB designs the plan, pays the claims and assumes all the risks that Blue Cross assumed in the past. PEBB says there will no change in our insurance but there are many indications that this will not be the case.

This is likely to be a huge change in total compensation for UO faculty. When you think of how seriously people take changes in pay of a few %, it’s amazing – or perhaps entirely unsurprising – there hasn’t been more open discussion of this and more info coming from Provost Bean.