Faculty Senate opposes insurance surcharge
Marshall Thompson, Staff Writer
A unanimous vote by the Utah State University Faculty Senate sent a resolution to Utah State University’s new president Jan. 9 opposing any future employee-paid premiums or surcharges for insurance coverage.
Last spring the faculty was informed that the funding available was not enough to cover the cost of medical insurance and that the employees would have to pay a surcharge or a premium this year, according to a report given to the Faculty Senate by the Budget and Faculty Welfare Committee.
Kathryn Turner, a professor in the Mathematics and Statistics department, said, “When it was decided to do [a surcharge], it was just a one-year thing that was to be studied.
Turner said representatives of university employees were appointed to a task force to evaluate the new charges, which range from about $5 to $15 a month, depending on whether the employee is single, married or a parent.
According to the report, the percentage paid from the Educational and General Fund Salaries and Wages to the Educational and General Benefits Fund has decreased from 33.27 percent in 1996-1997 to 31.7 percent in 2000-2001. This resulted in a $403,500 shortfall to pay for medical insurance benefits.
“It’s not a huge amount of money right now, but there is a concern that if it becomes the usual practice it would just increase and increase,” Turner said.
The resolution sent to President Kermit Hall proposed that the percentage allocated from the university budget for employee benefits should not decline and that in the future, if there is a shortfall, it should be paid from the staff benefits pool.
Turner said the staff benefits pool is made of money set aside at the beginning of the year for a new position at the University. If, for whatever reason, the position was not filled, the money goes to the staff benefits pool.
According to the report, there is currently $712,210 in the staff benefits pool.
Since 1998, more than $1.5 million has been transferred from the pool to the marginal balance and used for other university expenses.
The last transfer of $500,000 was made Feb. 9.
“It’s a little bit disturbing that this half-million was taken in February and this surcharge was announced in March,” Turner said. “There is nothing illegal in doing this, and we’re not accusing anyone of wrongdoing.”
Turner said the resolution was to the let Hall know how the faculty would like this situation to be handled in the future.