Health care has experienced drastic changes over the last decade. Technology and treatments have improved. Huge advancements have occurred in the screening and detection of disease. New medications and methods for delivering comprehensive care are helping people live longer and fuller lives.
Unfortunately, one of the most dramatic impacts of these changes has been the escalating cost of providing health care. A visit to the doctor, medical tests or medications can generate bills for thousands of dollars. An emergency trip to the hospital can cost tens of thousands. So while the opportunities to monitor and maintain our health are abundant, the cost of medical care is a painful burden for which there is not yet a cure.
Thankfully, for many people health insurance helps take the sting out of rising medical bills. But it is not without cost, either. All across our country employers and individuals are paying more for medical insurance. A number of factors are behind escalating costs, but the effect is clear. The days when workers could expect their employers to provide free health-care benefits are gone.
Businesses nationwide have had to ask their employees to pay a larger share of health benefit costs. As difficult a decision as it is, for many the choices are either to ask employees to share some of the burden, to reduce or eliminate health insurance benefits, or to reduce full-time employees or eliminate jobs altogether.
The New York Times reported recently that in the second quarter of this year, health benefit costs increased at more than three times that of both inflation and wage and salary increases. The story is the same in every size of business in every industry. The bottom line is that the more businesses have to pay to provide health-care insurance, the less money they have to hire new people, improve or expand their business, provide wage increases and contribute to other benefit or pension plans.
Group Health is no exception, and the strike we now face provides a pointed example. The leaders of the union that represents striking Group Health nurses and other employees have said publicly that they sought the strike because the cooperative is asking our staff to pay modest premiums to help offset the cost of their health insurance.
The cooperative has tried to balance the economic realities of the health-care industry with its commitment to its caregivers and to its hundreds of thousands of members – Group Health’s patients and their families.
Group Health members, just like health-care consumers across the country, have seen their health insurance premiums increase over the last several years. We have been phasing in premium shares with our staff: first with non-union staff, and then with unions, contract by contract. At this point, two other unions have agreed to modest premiums. Group Health staff who went on strike last week currently pay $5 co-pays for prescription drugs and doctor visits. They pay no premiums, no deductibles, no coinsurance.
It does not seem reasonable for the leaders of one union representing a portion of Group Health’s staff to demand that those workers pay nothing toward their premiums when the cooperative’s members have had to pay more. It is reasonable, when almost everyone is being asked to pay more, to expect that all would share in the burden of increased health insurance costs.
Feelings can run high during labor actions. But no matter what may be said, or what actions either party takes, my respect for our staff and the work they perform is fundamental and will not be compromised.
No employer wants to change a long-standing employee benefits practice, especially without long and careful consideration. After factoring in the modest cost shares we are proposing, Group Health will still have the highest value medical benefits of any major health-care employer in our region. The salary increases that we are offering will more than cover the proposed premium share over the life of the contract. Nevertheless, we are proposing a change from what we’ve done in the past. And change is difficult, especially if it affects you.
Requesting premium contributions was not something we did without a rigorous review of all our options and detailed deliberations about the best course for the cooperative as a whole. The deciding factor was our responsibility to all the members of Group Health Cooperative to provide them with quality health care they can afford.
While the current labor situation is extremely regrettable, we have nothing to apologize for. We have stepped up to the challenge of rising health-care costs by carefully balancing the needs of our employees and our patients and their families.
Cheryl Scott is president and CEO of Group Health Cooperative and has worked at Group Health for 25 years.
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