By Jody Record, Media Relations
A one-time $400 payment to non-union employees who make less than $40,000 a year as well as the option of cashing in up to five vacation days, regardless of income, have been proposed to offset health care contribution increases that go into effect in January.
A draft of the proposed plan was distributed last week at the monthly Professional, Administrative and Technical Staff Council meeting. An example of rate increases during the last few years showed an HMO family plan rose from $208 in 2001 to $1,955 in 2006.
In January, coinciding with, but not necessarily because of the switch to Harvard Pilgrim Health, that plan will cost $2,500. PAT chairman Rick MacDonald said that staying with Cigna could have meant an even higher cost.
The mitigation strategy is being proposed to counter increases, which have employees taking on two percent more of the total expense, a change resulting from the way costs are allocated between the system and the employee, according to MacDonald.
As crafted, USNH would take about $500,000 from the benefits’ budget to make the one-time payments to continuing employees whose annualized, full-time salaries are below $40,000. Employees who work part-time and make $20,000 or less would also get $400.
Under the proposal, any non-union worker who gets earned time or is eligible for standard vacation time could “cash in” up to five days of accrued leave or vacation time. The hours “cashed in” would not count toward annual minimum usage requirements.
Council member Phil Hammond noted representatives from all three councils had weighed in on the draft at the last SPPC meeting.
When asked if district representatives could tell people about the proposal, Hammond said, “My sense is, you can. I’m 95 percent sure you can bank on it. There might be a twiddle on the date but not much more.”
The possibility of a tiered benefit structure was presented by council member Tracy Boyle, who explained such a plan would be based on income.
“If you don’t make as much, you pay less,” she said, adding, “We would like USNH to show us what that would look like.”
Boyle encouraged people to complete their benefit enrollment online at MyUSNHBenefits.net directly or via the USNH Human Resources home page at http://www.usnhhr.unh.edu.
Open enrollment ends Oct. 13.