Oscar Bautista
Staff Writer
An email addressed to all faculty and staff was sent out updating the benefits health plan effective Jan. 1, 2017. Although there weren’t any changes to the policy itself, there were changes to the tier structure and premium structure.
Since December of last year, the Benefits Task Force, a group of administrators, faculty and staff, has been tasked with revising the health insurance benefits with certain goals including creating health options that are both affordable and high value, protecting against catastrophic expenses and adjusting to increasing expenses of the employee and the College.
One of the most important features of the new plan is the replacement of the three-tier structure – employee only, employee plus one/spouse, employee plus two or more–so a four-tier structure – employee only, employee plus child(ren), employee plus spouse; family – in order to accommodate for the different types of family situations for faculty and staff.
The addition will help single parents pay less by using the “employee plus child(ren)” option instead of paying for the previous family plan.
According to the email, the second major change is “a more progressive and equitable new premium structure.”
This would be to calculate premiums for every staff member according to their salary, having those with higher incomes cover a larger percentage of the plan costs compared to lower compensated employees.
“The largest effort was made in furthering the equitable compensation plan that started with an increase in our minimum wage to $11 per hour effective September 2016,” said Deanna S. McCormick, vice president for finance and business at the College.