The burden of towering health-care costs is weighing on the University’s part-time classified workers, leaving many worried they’ll soon be emptying their pockets to pay for basic coverage.
“It’s the first time this has happened in my memory; that a group of our people will be paying out of pocket for insurance,” said Bart Lewis, administrative specialist with business affairs and bargaining chair for the union that represents classified staff in contract negotiations.
Mounting health-care costs will hit University classified workers hardest, because, of the 1,241 classified staff here, 288 are part-time — the largest number of part-time classified staff at any Oregon public university. Classified workers provide administrative assistance, facilitate health care services and prepare residence hall meals, among other things.
“Basically, we’re looking at a massive pay cut if we want insurance, anywhere from 10 to 40 percent,” said Constance Berglund, public service representative for the University Health Center.
Some blame the Public Employees Benefit Board (PEBB) for failing to secure an affordable health-care plan for part-time workers in 2002-03. PEBB provides health benefit plans for state employees “at a cost affordable to both the employees and the state,” according to PEBB’s Web site. The agency seeks bids from insurance providers across the country to provide competitive plans that aim for a balance of what workers need and what workers can afford.
But the soaring cost of prescription drugs, insurance company efforts to recoup losses incurred in previous years and increased use of medical care by seniors has pushed the cost of health care skyward, PEBB Administrator Mylia Wray said.
“The critical issue here is what has happened in the health-care industry in Oregon and in the rest of the country,” Wray said. “We’ve seen a double-digit increase in 2000-01 and will see a 26 percent average increase on 2002 plans.”
Wray said providing workers with the coverage they’ve become accustomed to for the last two years would raise costs by more than 45 percent in one year. As a result, one health plan for part-time workers will supplant the myriad of choices offered in the past.
Workers say the one plan offered is unaffordable.
Berglund files medical records and attends meetings at the Health Center 22 to 25 hours each week, she said. For health plan benefits, she is classified as “.5,” or someone who works half time. This means she is eligible for half the compensation afforded to full-time workers, who receive full benefits. Part-time workers receive contributions and subsidies to cover health-care costs prorated to full-time benefits.
But because basic health plan costs are rising while contributions and subsidies remain fixed, many will feel the pinch.
“(Contributions and subsidies) are not enough to cover the cost of insurance plans this year,” said Helen Stoop, benefits administrator for University human resources. “The rates are so much higher.”
Part-time workers said they also feel abandoned by the union that represents them, the Oregon Public Employees Union, which reached a tentative contract agreement with OUS in late September that established increased wages and health benefits for all classified staff in 2002-03. The OUS and union had been involved in contentious negotiations for months but averted a threatened strike by the workers Sept. 24.
Lewis said when he was hammering out a deal with OUS, “I had a feeling part-timers were in trouble, but I didn’t understand how big a problem it was.”