by Caleb Fort
The Daily Lobo
Faculty and staff could pay more for their health insurance plans.
On March 14, the Board of Regents approved two health insurance contracts that will replace all health plans available to UNM employees.
The contracts, which were awarded to Lovelace Sandia Health System and United Healthcare, will result in a range of price changes from a 6 percent reduction to a 9 percent increase, said Arthur Gonzales, manager of benefits in the Human Resources department.
The average price of health insurance plans for faculty and staff will increase 3.2 percent, he said.
Fifty-two percent of people who change plans will have a reduction in their fee or no change, while 48 percent will see an increase, Gonzales said.
Professor Christine Sauer, who said she uses and is "very happy" with the Presbyterian plan, is concerned about Presbyterian "getting the ax."
"The one concern I do have is retaining the relationships with doctors I've had for many years, and whether that will increase the cost or decrease the cost to me," Sauer said. "I guess the big question is how the payments are going to be if you use the Presbyterian health plan."
Sauer said she is concerned faculty will face the largest price increases because they receive the largest salaries.
People who are concerned about losing Presbyterian doctors with whom they have a long-standing relationship do not have to worry, because they will have access to those doctors through the United plan, Gonzales said.
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"The United Healthcare network is primarily the Presbyterian network," he said.
UNM usually bids nationally every four years for health care plans, but this time UNM looked for bids two years earlier than usual, Gonzales said. UNM took this measure in response to the drastically rising health care prices of the plans UNM was used. In some cases, prices went up 22 percent, he said.
He said the University pays about $40 million in premiums for the five insurance plans the University carries.
UNM chose Lovelace and United mainly because of their low rates but also because of the flexibility of the plans they were willing to offer, he said.
Lovelace spokesman Damian Esquibel said the hospital's strengths are low prices and a long partnership with UNM.
"We do an exceptional job of managing dollars," he said. "We understand that UNM is not heavily funded."
Although United presents competition to Lovelace, Esquibel said it provides positive results to consumers.
"I view them as a competitor, but it's a friendly competition," he said. "I'd rather somebody picked United because they're impressed rather than default to us. I want people to pick us as an educated choice."
UNM employees will be able to choose from three options.
If employees use UNM Hospital, they will have a low co-pay with no deductible up to a $1,000 maximum, Gonzales said. A $10,000 operation would cost $150 at UNMH, he said.
Employees can also go to any facility in the hospital's network, which means someone on the Lovelace plan can go to any hospital in the Lovelace network, and an employee on the United plan can go to any hospital within the United network, Gonzales said. He said an employee who uses an in-network hospital will have to pay 20 percent of the total bill up to a maximum of $1,500.
Gonzales said the third option is to go out of the network, which means an employee can go to almost any hospital in the country. He said employees who use this option pay 40 percent of the total bill up to a $5,000 maximum.
Employees will have the chance to choose the United or the Lovelace plans between May 2 and May 18.
If employees do not make a choice at that time, they will automatically be given one of the plans based on their current plan, Gonzales said.
Employees who use Presbyterian will be given United, and employees who use any of the other plans will be given Lovelace, he said.
