As part of the University's continuing development of employee health insurance coverage, Duke added a new health plan to its offerings when open enrollment for health and dental coverage began Sept. 29.
The new plan, called Duke Basic, will offer coverage with lower premiums than the other Duke plans. However, it will have higher co-pays and deductibles in order to balance it out, said Paul Grantham, director of communications for human resources.
"It really has two basic target audiences," Grantham said. "We've seen a lot in the media recently about people who can't afford coverage, so Duke Basic is targeted to making health care available for people who might not be able to afford coverage for themselves.... It's also a good plan for people who may not visit the doctor often, only for preventative care. It's probably not the best for people with pre-existing conditions or people who need specialty care due to the out-of-pocket costs for certain services."
One of the aims of the Duke Basic plan is to provide essential services at a low cost in order to make coverage available for the segment of the University's employee population that does not currently have any health insurance.
"The Duke Basic plan is another option those folks may wish to take advantage of," said Lois Ann Green, director of benefits administration. "This should increase the options those employees have as far as health care."
Grantham added that while premiums are increasing slightly for all of the health coverage plans, the increases are significantly less than the state and national trends.
"Duke's done a very good job at keeping the increase in costs at a lower rate than other area employers," he said. "At a time when most people are significantly increasing their premiums, Duke's offering a plan that's lower than what was available last year."
By providing affordable health plans, the University hopes to continue avoiding the national trend of declining rates in employee health insurance coverage. More than 86 percent of Duke's employees participate in one of the health plans, compared to less than 50 percent nationally, Grantham said, adding that the Duke figure does not include employees who are covered under a spouse's plan.
During the open enrollment period, which lasts until Oct. 11, employees can review and change their health and dental coverage, Grantham explained. Changes will go into effect Jan. 1, 2004, and last through the following year. Data regarding the specific number of employees who choose to enroll in the Duke Basic plan will not be available for some time, but Grantham added that the feedback from employees regarding the new plan has been positive so far.
Green noted that Duke Basic is a full health benefits plan, and not just a pilot plan. Like any new program, she noted, it will be reexamined after employees have had some time to take advantage of it.
"Any time you develop an employee benefit plan, you're going to evaluate if it's meeting the needs and going forward, whether we have this one year or 10 years," she said. "We have to have enough people enrolled to make the program viable.... We won't know that until probably about the end of November."
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