Ball State employees will be paying more for health care next year.
As a part of a new healthcare policy rates for faculty will increase 16.5 percent across the board. This means there will be increases between $9 and $61 in monthly premiums, depending on the chosen plan.
Effective Jan. 1, 2015, increase as a result of the university’s compliance with components of the Affordable Care Act and the start of its first full year with Anthem, the new health care provider.
Changes to the university’s health care plan were approved at the Board of Trustee’s last meeting Oct. 10.
A full breakdown of the increase to each plan will be made available through Employee Benefits during the open enrollment period of Nov. 3 to Nov 21.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, the university will have to provide health care for 50-60 more employees than before because they work for more than 30 hours a week.
“We’re always trying to strike the balance between what we can and should charge because the cost of the health care is shared,” said Bernie Hannon, associate vice president for business affairs and assistant treasurer.
The control of health care costs falls under one aspect of the university’s strategic plan for 2017.
“Anthem’s [Ball State’s new third party administrator] recommended changes that the university has accepted are considered best practices in the industry,” Hannon said.
For non-smokers, the university will continue to offer a reduced tobacco-free premium. The difference between the tobacco and tobacco-free plans will remain the same.
Among the changes are a number of new optional and automatic programs, along with limitations on certain medical procedures.
In response to an employee survey from 2012, the university has added an optional short-term disability coverage for non-service employees. For service faculty, who engage in manual labor, the university already covers short-term as a part of their health care.
Previously, faculty, professional and staff employees had to save vacation and sick days to account for short-term disability until long-term kicked in after 60 days. The new benefit can last 13 or 26 weeks with a waiting period of eight or 30 days.
Premiums for the new voluntary option are based on age, length of benefits and waiting period chosen.
Ball State will provide new programs and tools including a chronic disease management program, a 24/7 nurse line, an imaging management program and cost estimate tool.
Employees with chronic disease, such as diabetes and asthma, will be able to receive individualized plans and preventive help.
Hannon hopes the added programs will help lower costs to the university.
“Chronic diseases lead to the catastrophic claims that hit us hard,” Hannon said. “If we can control them before folks end up in a nursing home or need a transplant, it will bring the costs down. So we are hoping that is where Anthem will be really helpful.”
The other programs will also aim to reduce costs, Hannon said. By having a nurse always accessible by phone to provide medical advice, employees should be able to avoid going to the emergency room in some situations.
"Our claim trend showed that a large portion of our members’ emergency room visits were for non-emergencies, like sinus infections or stomachaches," Hannon said. "We certainly are not discouraging members from going to the emergency room for true emergencies; we simply want them to consider going to an urgent care facility or to their family doctor’s office for their primary care."
However, the other tools work in helping determine where to get the best tests and procedures by comparing clinic, lab and hospital prices in the area.
Across all plans, employees can expect coinsurance rates for visits to places outside of their healthcare network to drop from 60 percent to 50 percent. However, emergency room co-pay will increase from $100 to $200, but will be waived if there is admittance into the ER.
If faculty members do not enroll between Nov. 3 and Nov. 21, chosen benefits from last year will remain the same.
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