By Vic Cox

Though exact amounts will vary according to employees’ pay levels and coverage choices, most UC health insurance rates will rise substantially next year. Faced with what officials said was an 11.7 percent overall increase, the University absorbed “a large part of the cost increase, but employees as a group will also pay more in 2007,” said Michael Waldman, systemwide manager for benefits services.

Waldman’s figures, contained in a late September memo on “total compensation,” indicate that in 2007 UC expects to pay $673-million to fund medical benefits—$50-million more than in 2006. However, employees will need to shoulder $119-million in 2007, about $33-million over 2006.

Any change in medical plans contemplated by employees must be done during open enrollment in November. This year, that period has been abbreviated a week so that it runs from Nov. 1 to 21.

What increased medical plan costs mean for employee premiums is spelled out on the At Your Service Web site <http://atyourservice.ucop.edu> maintained by the University’s Human Resources and Benefits Office. A notable upcoming change is that for the first time since introducing pay scale-based “contribution bases” in 2003, UC has adjusted the four bases in 2007 “to reflect the increased cost of living.”

To take the low and the high ends as examples, those earning $43,000 or less (it was previously $40,000) generally have the least expensive coverage in dollars spent, while those earning over $129,000 (it was $120,000) pay the most for premiums. However, the “percentage changes are higher in the lower salary bands” for medical coverage, the At Your Service site acknowledges.

The premiums for the same coverage vary widely across the four salary bands, but all medical plan providers have boosted their rates for 2007 save one. Excluding the limited-benefits Core plan, only the Definity medical plan has cut its premiums below that of 2006 for many categories.

Health Net, which is the top choice of most UCSB active employees, is more representative of the medical plans: A single employee in pay band I paid $12.49 a month for her 2006 coverage; in 2007 it will be $20.64. Two adults in pay band II ($43,001-$86,000) will be charged $133.53 a month for the same coverage they got in 2006 for $89.58.

The latter example from Health Net is also what a retired couple would pay for HMO coverage, assuming neither one was enrolled in Medicare. Retirees can download their 2007 medical plan premiums by clicking on a link in the Sept. 29 memo on the At Your Service Web site.

The University pledges to continue “the same co-payments, coverage, and access to high-quality care you have now,” according to an Oct. 2 memo from Cynthia Cronk, UCSB Human Resources director, and Pat Sheppard, Academic Personnel Office director. They add that UC will also “fully pay” for dental and vision coverage.

The premium increases are subject to negotiations for represented employees. However, unions are already criticizing the medical premium structure.

“UC’s proposed increases in employee contributions…are skewed strongly in favor of top managers, administrators, and senior faculty,” said Melinda Gandará, bargaining representative for the Coalition of University Employees, Local 1.