Regents discuss expanding benefits to employees’ partners

At its Friday meeting, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents discussed a proposal to expand eligibility for participation in the university’s benefits program to include employees’ partners.

Under the “employee plus one” proposal, the university would extend eligibility for coverage to a qualifying unrelated adult who shares an employee’s household and with whom the employee is financially interdependent, or family coverage for the employee, the other adult and their dependent children.

UNMC leaders in favor

“We support the proposal,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “If we are going to compete for the best and brightest faculty and employees and strive to be a world-class medical center, it’s important that we remain competitive on the benefits front. Most of our peer institutions are providing benefits for employees’ partners.”

Wayne Stuberg, Ph.D., president of the UNMC Faculty Senate, noted that the UNMC Faculty Senate adopted a resolution urging the university to enact such a proposal.

“Treating all our employees equitably is the right thing to do,” he said.

Competitively necessary

University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken stressed that every other Big Ten university provides such benefits, as do a majority of the peers of the NU campuses. More than 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies and almost 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer health insurance benefits to employee partners, he said.

In Nebraska, a number of major companies offer such benefits, including:

• ConAgra;
  
• Union Pacific; and
  
• Mutual of Omaha.

The new reality

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about half of the nation’s households are headed by unmarried adults.

Only about 25 percent of households meet the “traditional” definition of the family — a husband and wife living together with their children.

Moving forward

NU officials have estimated the cost of extending health insurance benefits to qualifying adults of the same and opposite gender to be $750,000 to $1.5 million. Total costs for the university’s health insurance plan today are more than $120 million.

The issue may be considered for action at the regents’ next regular meeting, scheduled for Dec. 8. If approved, the benefits would become available beginning July 1, 2012.