Employee benefits prove beneficial

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Riding the waves of ups and downs in hospital employee health care, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County has reached a crest as hospital board members review possible increases to the employees’ premiums or deductibles in the next year.

Facing a series of years of “catastrophic claims” by employees, hospital officials now seek to adjust rates to bring hospital finances back on track. The changes could affect the hospital’s stance as one of the best health care providers in the state, a position it uses for recruitment and hopes to maintain.

“We’ve had some catastrophic claims that have really pushed premium costs to the hospital way up,” Human Resources Director Beverly Young said. She said the claim amounts have been increasing throughout the last few years, with last year marking the pinnacle.

The hospital currently has the “Cadillac plan” of hospital health benefits in the state, Young said. But the hospital has been lucky to be staffed with primarily healthy employees throughout the past few years.

Large claims create an increased risk factor in the eyes of the hospital’s stop-loss carrier, an outside firm that contracts yearly to cover expenses that exceed the hospital’s cap of $60,000 per claim.

Each time a claim goes over the hospital’s predetermined cap, the stop-loss carrier reimburses the hospital accordingly for amounts in excess of $60,000. It simultaneously raises a flag to consider a rate increase for services.

Currently, hospital board members are faced with a rate increase that must be carried over to the employees in the form of either a higher deductible or higher premiums. Health plan payments go up and down, Young said. “The good years with higher premiums pay for the bad years.”

Board members plan to collect employee feedback and incorporate it into their decision. The board hopes to find a solution that maintains the hospital’s position as offering some of the best health coverage in the state for hospital employees. Young said the feedback is scheduled to be delivered at the next board meeting on Feb. 28.