OCOPE balks at new health care, HR says no different

The Oberlin College Office of Professional Employees has raised objection to their new health care manager by filing charges with the National Relations Review Board. Director of Human Resources Ruth Spencer asserts that the new health care manager offers the same coverage as they had prior to the change over, while OCOPE claims they are receiving restricted coverage.

During contract negotiations last summer the College introduced their plan to switch health care providers from United Health Care to JP Farley on January 1 of this year. OCOPE reviewed the change, and agreed on the premise that the coverage would not be altered. "It is the same plan. The real issue is there are some new procedures," said Spencer.

The new procedures relate to the referral process of specialized physicians. According to Weir, an OCOPE member could select any specialized physician under the old health care manager. Under JP Farley, employees must get a referral from their primary care physician or fill out a form themselves for a specialized referral. Weir stated that employees could only use the referral form process once. "This was completely different from our benefits under United Health Care," said Wier.

Spencer refuted all claims that the health care plan had been altered. She attributes the problems associated with the new health care manager to an operational adjustment. Spencer said, "When you change over from one system to another, there are going to be some glitches."

Weir said, "This is completely contrary to the way things are done. Members are very anxious about visiting the doctor." OCOPE has been bringing six to ten individual referral complaints to their monthly meetings with management.

The College has responded to individual problems. OCOPE expressed satisfaction with the correction of individual problems, but sill desires a wide scale change to solve all their member's problems. "No acceptable resolution has been discussed," said Weir.

The College also instituted a new health care manager that covers prescriptions for all campus employees, not just OCOPE. The plan was introduced with the intention of curbing spending on brand name drug prescriptions. Spencer said, "70 percent [of all employees] were getting brand names. In an effect to control cost, we had to get a handle somewhere."

The new plan, under National Medical Health Card Systems, allows College employees to purchase generic prescriptions for $3 to $5. If the generic is not available, the employee must pay the difference between the name brand and the generic.

According to Weir, OCOPE is not happy about having to pay for the name brand when the generic is not kept in stock. Spencer does not think that the union is willing to compromise with these minor problems. Spencer said, "We don't control the pharmacy! The real question is: is it unreasonable to go somewhere else?"

Human resources has been accommodating with the exceptions it has made with the new health care manager. Spencer explained that some of the practices under the old health care manager were not actually provided for by the contract. Spencer indicated that the poor running of the health care contract partly lead to the change.

Spencer pointed out that the rise in health care spending, which inspired most of the College's changes, is a not isolated to just Oberlin. Spencer said, "Health care continues to go up and the College is paying the brunt of these costs."

Even though OCOPE concedes that human resources has made efforts to respond to individual complaints, and offer the same care that employees enjoyed under the prior manager, they still feel slighted with their new health care manager. "For my membership's perspective, they have lost a lot. A loss of sense of security," said Weir.