EDMONDS – Many employees of South Snohomish County medical clinics owned and operated by Stevens Healthcare are saying they might leave their jobs because of a large, sudden increase in health insurance premiums for their families.
If employees start to leave, it could set off a chain reaction that could result in the clinics closing, employees say.
For 2004, the premiums increased from $37.47 to $160.87 per two-week pay period for an employee plus child, a 329 percent increase, said Stevens spokesperson Beth Engel. For employee plus spouse, the premiums increased 51 percent to $201 and for employee plus family they increased 112 percent to $361.
By contrast, while premiums were also increased for employees of the hospital itself, they increased to $81.93 for employee and child, to $89.89 for employee and spouse and $175.87 for employee and family.
“The employees here are being treated unjustly,” said Dr. Keith Luther, medical director for the Family Care of Edmonds, a clinic located at 21204 72nd Ave. W.
Employees on the hospital campus are members of the SEIU 1199 union, said hospital spokesperson Beth Engel. Employees of the clinics are under a different Stevens umbrella, Stevens Prime Care, and are not unionized. Other clinics are Stevens Center for Internal Medicine in the new Stevens Pavilion near the hospital; Birth and Family in Edmonds; Harbor Pointe Family Practice in Mukilteo; Mill Creek Family Practice at Martha Lake and Paul O’Brien’s office in Edmonds.
About 30 employees met Dec. 3 to discuss the matter with Deanna Knutsen, one of three commissioners of the Stevens Hospital District. The district, which covers southwest Snohomish County north to Mukilteo and east to Bothell, collects taxes to contract, purchase, lease, maintain and operate hospitals and other facilities as required to meet community health needs. Knutsen could not be reached for comment.
Engel said the coverage costs for Stevens have been increasing the past two years but that Stevens has not passed along the increase until now.
“It’s unfortunate, and it’s not easy to handle that scenario for anyone,” Engel said. She said that while the old premium was at the bottom in comparison to others in the area, the new one is about in the middle.
Stevens Healthcare’s philosophy “has always been to operate the clinics as separate business entities” from the hospital, Engel said.
Alana Mitchell, an employee at Family Care of Edmonds, said it seemed the clinic employees are being treated differently because they are not part of a union, but Engel said that wouldn’t necessarily change the situation. If they belonged to a union, it would be a different one from that of the hospital employees, Engel said, and they would operate under a different contract. Employees at clinics are generally not unionized, she added.
Some employees say the increase is forcing them to look for other work. Medical insurance for the employees themselves is free but those with families will have a hard time absorbing the increase because their jobs are “not especially high paid,” Luther said.
Packets were distributed around Thanksgiving, according to employees. Notice came too late for many of them to switch to their spouses’ medical plans for 2004, Mitchell said.
“Nobody wants to leave,” said Jill Dewey, a medical assistant at Family Care of Edmonds. But if about three or four of the 17 employees leave, Luther will leave, too, he said.
“If I quit this clinic, the doors will close,” Luther said.
The clinic, and other Stevens clinics, are among the few in South Snohomish County that still take on new Medicare and Medicaid patients, according to both Engel and the employees.
“If we close, those people are not going to have anywhere to go,” Mitchell said.
Regarding the possibility of the clinics closing, Stevens is “looking at different scenarios,” Engel said. “We’re proactively researching options if that does happen.”
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