HR mulls health care costs

news@dailylobo.com

Annual UNM health care costs have increased by $7 million over the past three years and are estimated to cost the University about $62 million in the current fiscal year.

In FY 2011, UNM paid about $55 million for health care costs; about $40 million went to medical claims costs alone. In FY 2012, health care costs increased to about $59 million, including about $43 million in medical claim costs. UNM health care costs include medical and pharmacy claim costs, administrative fees and stop-loss insurance costs. Stop-loss insurance is designed to protect UNM from having to pay excessive health care costs in the case of a catastrophic claim that exceeds a certain limit.

Vice President of Human Resources Helen Gonzales said about 86 percent of insurance claims for the UNM Medical Plan are for chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma, and that obesity is considered to be one of the most significant risk factors for chronic illness.

About 64 percent of Americans are considered to be overweight or obese, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The hard fact is that the cost of health care continues to rise,” she said. “UNM has responded thoughtfully and aggressively to increasing health care costs. A premium increase was again avoided for FY 2012 through changes in plan design. Implementation of the plan changes helped avoid a premium increase to all employees by attaching part of the cost of certain types of care to individual utilization.”

Gonzales said poor lifestyle choices are one of the reasons health care costs continue to rise and that the University is considering different methods to improve employee health. She said that UNM employees have access to voluntary and confidential personal health assessments, exercise facilities, health and wellness programs and news about customized services to promote wellness.

“Health care plans across the country are seeking and implementing strategies to motivate members to make good lifestyle choices, which reduces the cost of health care to both the plans and their participants,” she said. “These strategies typically involve incentives which reward good choices, and financial disincentives — penalties, actually — for poor lifestyle changes.”

Gonzales said that penalties usually include higher costs for health care services and that some institutions, including Albuquerque Public Schools, provide programs such as Personal Health Assessments and wellness initiatives to promote healthy lifestyle choices. She said that in some cases, employees who choose not to participate might pay higher health insurance premiums.

Gonzales said that although UNM doesn’t reward or enforce penalties for based on employees’ lifestyles, the University will consider various options to reward employees for healthy lifestyles rather than penalize employees for unhealthy lifestyle choices.

She said the University already provides employees with healthy lifestyle choice incentives, such as the confidential health assessments and the Tuition Remission policies that provide employees with up to two credit hours per calendar year for health and fitness courses through the UNM Division of Continuing Education or other University departments.

“Johnson Gym is available to University employees … and Human Resources publishes regular news and offers customized services to departments to foster wellness through Employee Health Promotion Programs,” Gonzales said. “UNM strives to make good choices available for its employees.”