Truman State University’s faculty medical insurance plan changes will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.
Dave Rector, vice president for Administration, Finance and Planning, said the medical insurance covers faculty, staff and their dependents.
Faculty Senate President Scott Alberts said Faculty Senate didn’t vote on the insurance change and that it was done by the administration.
“The staff is self-insured, meaning that the money they pay in stays within an account at Truman,” Alberts said. “They pay a company a fee to manage benefits. If the collective faculty and staff are particularly healthy in a particular year, their rates will go down or up but mostly it tends to even out.”
Sally Herleth, executive director of Human Resources, said there will be minimal disruptions in terms of providers and pharmacy options.
Herleth said there was a push for change because Human Resources typically go out to bid every five years or so. This helps to ensure that they are providing the best benefits possible and employees are getting the best deal in terms of costs.
“The fact that we will not be increasing premiums beginning 2020 has been well received. The impact of the change will not be fully realized until we make the switch,” Herleth said.
“They recently did a bid to make sure the current company, Aetna, was giving us the best price on the package,” Rector said.
Rector said there were several proposals, but the best one was from Anthem. The coverage will be the same and there will be no increase in price. Had the school stayed with Aenta, the cost to the University and employees would have gone up.