OU Benefits Enrollment will be available from Oct. 19 to Nov. 6 for OU employees despite changes in the healthcare insurance system.
According to the 2021 Norman Plan Changes, OU employees’ benefits from OU-Norman Campus and the Health Sciences Center will move from a six-tier structure to a three-tier structure for 2021, eventually transitioning to a one-tier system by 2022.
In an OU Daily article, OU administrators said to expect a growth of more than 11 percent in the healthcare insurance costs for 2021. One of the OU employees’ benefits changes is the increase of the PPO — the Preferred Provider Organization — deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, co-pays and co-insurance charges; and the High Deductible Health Plan with HSA — the Health Saving Account — according to the selected Choice or Preferred in-network.
In-network deductibles are increasing from $750 to $1,000 for individuals and from $1,500 to $2,000 for a family in the preferred network, while the choice in-network deductible is $2,000 per individual and $4,000 per family.
The Choice’s In-Network out-of-pocket maximums will be $6,000 for individual and $12,000 for a family, but the preferred in-network out-of-pockets maximum remain the same. In-network copays for primary care will change from $25 to $20 and from $35 to $30 for specialist care in the preferred network. In the choice network, co-pays will be $30 for primary care and $40 specialist care. Finally, the preferred in-network coinsurance will change from 80/20 to 90/10 and the choice network will change to 70/30.
According to the Health Care Government website, the 80/20 rule is provided by the Affordable Care Act to ensure the accountability of insurance companies and to keep the costs down for individuals. Insurance companies should invest at least 80% of their income on health care costs and quality improvement activities while the other 20% goes to administrative, overhead and marketing costs.
The High Deductible Health Plan with HSA will no longer stand for a limited number of generic maintenance drugs at no cost. In-network deductibles will change from $1,750 to $3,000 per individual and from $3,500 to $6,000 per family.
According to the OU Benefits Open Enrollment, OU is redesigning the life insurance plans. While they eliminated the flat $50,000 plan and the basic employer-paid life insurance will remain 1.5 times the base salary, they will offer the supplemental life insurance in $10,000 increments with a guaranteed issued amount between $300,000 for new employees and a maximum of $500,000. Lastly, the spousal life insurance is offered in $5,000 increments with a guaranteed issued amount from $100,000 for new employees to a maximum of $150,000.
Lastly, vision insurance will be provided by Met Life for 2021 while dental insurance will be provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Previously, the OU faculty and staff senates opposed the OU changes in healthcare benefits plan due to its negative impact on the lowest-paid OU employees. According to them, the one-tier system especially gives “the same benefits at the same cost to all employees, regardless of needs or income.”
According to the article, OU President Joseph Harroz assigned the Department of Human Resources to “survey OU’s compensation structure” in order to ensure the lowest-paid employees have a “fair and market-competitive” payment.
“We are taking steps to mitigate that burden, addressing this honestly and fairly, assessing both benefits and compensation, in particular for our lowest-paid positions,” Harroz said in the article. “This measure, we trust, will only need (to) be a temporary one as we will prioritize addressing the findings of the compensation study completed over the next year.”
According to the email, OU employees should confirm their mailing address by Oct. 7 through the OU Human Resources self-service website in order to receive information on the OU Open Enrollment.
OU Benefits Open Enrollment said all new information is pending the OU Board of Regents’ approval. Employees can access the OU Benefits Enrollment Open website to gather more information about the new insurance plans and to review the 2021 insurance rates.
