October 23, 2003
Open enrollment period brings good news and bad for employees
The open enrollment period for the state medical and dental plans, which runs from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30, contains some bad news and some good news.
The bad news, not unexpected, is that the overall cost of providing health coverage continues to rise. For 2004, it will be up almost 14 percent. Furthermore, the Legislature voted to increase the percentage of health care insurance costs that an employee must pay from 14 percent to 16 percent. This is reflected by a rise in most premiums.
The good news is threefold. First, the Uniform Medical Plan has actually lowered its premiums slightly. “This reflects the success of cost control efforts undertaken in previous years,” says Kathleen Dwyer, director of the UW Benefits Office.
Another piece of good news is that the Washington State Health Care Authority has a new pilot program that is offering premiums substantially below those of all other current programs. The UMP Neighborhood plan, which is structured somewhat differently from other plans, has limited entry to the first 5,000 residents of King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties who sign up online. More information is available at http://www.ump.hca.wa.gov/nhood/.
The third piece of relatively good news is that, despite recent increases, health care premiums available through the state are still well below what most individuals employed by the private sector must pay, Dwyer says. While individuals will pay between $19 and $232 a month, depending on the plan and the coverage desired, the total cost of monthly coverage varies between $309 and $1,019, with the state picking up the remainder of the bill.
In other news, the Benefits Office will unveil a “Benefits Orientation and Enrollment” Web site by the end of autumn quarter. Although designed with new employees in mind, the information will be helpful for anyone with questions about their benefits, says Mary Parker-Hale, assistant to the director and Web specialist in the Benefits Office.
The site will provide “one stop shopping” for acquiring information and making choices about the full range of items available in the benefits package, including all core insurance offerings, retirement plans, optional insurance and savings plans. While downloadable benefits forms are already available online, eventually these will be available for both online completion and submission.
The site also will have useful information for anyone facing a layoff or considering retirement. “This won’t replace our in-person benefits orientation,” Parker-Hale points out. “But it will give people the opportunity to gather information on their own 24/7. Everything that used to be available only on paper will now be online.”
The online benefits orientation will be a valuable adjunct to the material already available for new employee orientation online, Dwyer says.
Three benefits fairs will be offered next week. The fairs will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 28 on the first floor of the Research and Training Building at Harborview; on Wednesday, Oct. 29 in the UW Medical Center and Health Sciences Lobbies; and Thursday, Oct. 30 in the HUB West Ballroom.
