Battalion/Page 18
September 22,1982
Income
(continued from page 1)
of the deductibles.
Mynar isn’t the only employee
who looked off campus for alter
nate insurance plans. Mark Bus
by, an assistant professor of En
glish, said it will cost $ 100 more a
month to insure his 11-year-old
son.
“And he’s healthy,” Busby
said. “I don’t expect anything to
happen to him.”
Busby said he priced other in
surance plans.
'“At most places, I can get in
surance for $30 a month,” he
said. “I don’t want to take my son
off of the plan because I trust
the University’s backing, but for
that amount of money I will.”
Busby said he will remain on
the plan because the state contri
bution pays for his insurance.
But Honea said the Texas
A&M plan really can’t be com
pared with other plans because
of basic differences in coverage.
Honea said newspaper ads
say other companies offer com
parable coverage at a lower cost.
“But they’re not comparing
comparable policies,” he said.
And if an employee leaves the
University plan, he or she may
be required to show proof of in
surability before being allowed
to rejoin the plan, Honea said.
Most employees have selected
the basic plan, he said. But Hon
ea said he has been surprised at
the number of employees who
have stayed with the deluxe
plan.
The basic plan includes the
Prescription Card Service, a
$200 deductible and 80 percent
of the first $2,500 of covered ex
penses paid. The deluxe plan in
cludes the PCS card, a $100 de
ductible and 80 percent of the
first $2,500 of covered expenses
paid. The economy plan does
not include the PCS card, has a
$500 deductible and pays 80
percent of the first $5,000 of co
vered expenses. All three plans
pay 100 percent of the benefits
after the first amount.
Facts and figures were stu
died after the impending in
crease was announced. But
many members of the faculty
and staff were just as worried
about the shock of the increase
to unprepared employees.
Parrish said faculty members
were unhappy because they
were not consulted in the de
liberation.
“It is our money after all, and
we deserve to be told what is pos
sible — competitor’s rates, what
they had to offer and what we
have to offer,” he said. “Some
say we got off as well as we could.
But there will continue to be sus
picion ... there will continue to
be rumors, founded or un
founded. More information
should be provided to reduce
that as much as possible.
“Someone knew about it quite
some time ago. Administrators
somewhere must have realized
what was in the offing. I don’t
think it sits well with some of the
faculty to be told in August
(when a lot of the faculty are
gone).”
Honea said his office pro
vided a number of facts prior to
the announcement of the in
crease. He said the distribution
of information this year was no
different than last year.
The process to select an insur-.
ance company began last Octo
ber with the System Personnel
Policy and Employee Benefits
Committee, an advisory group
to the chancellor, Honea said.
The committee decided to re
main with Southwestern Life In
surance Co. and the chancellor
approved its decision. The Sys
tem contacted 489 carriers and
six bidders participated — Lone
Star Life, Prudential, Metropoli
tan, The Equitable, Southwest
ern and Lincoln National, Hon
ea said.
Honea said an increase was
really in order two years ago.
However, up to that point, there
were more premiums than
claims, he said, which resulted in
reserves for the plan. But to
keep a recently approved 5.1
percent salary increase from
being swallowed by insurance
rate hikes, the committee de
cided the reserves should be
used to hold down insurance
costs.
“We would have been in the
same situation then as we are
now,” Honea said. “One con
solation, if you could call it that,
is that we could have been
paying higher rates for a longer
period of time.”
Another factor in the in
crease, Honea said, is the liti-
gous attitude of society today.
Doctors are ordering more tests,
and people want better treat
ment because they know what
now is available.
years,” he said. “Now new
machines become obsolete with
in two years because of quick
advances in technology. So they
must be paid off within a shorter
period of time.”
It seems no relief is in sight
for employees paying higher in
surance rates. But Several orga
nizations are working to keep
the costs down.
“In the past, a sprained ankle
would cost $ 8 or $ 10 becau se the
doctor would check it over and
send you home with an Ace ban
dage,” Honea said. “Now it
could cost up to $300 because
you may have to go to get X-rays,
pay the radiologist to read the
X-rays and maybe make a trip to
a bone specialist.”
Increases in technology also
have raised costs, Honea said.
“You used to be able to pay
for a new piece of medical diag
nostic equipment over several
Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen
told the Legislative Budget
Board on Sept. 1 that requests
for an increased state contribu
tion made by the Texas Public
Employees Association may be
more realistic than the current
state contribution.
Billye Tate, president of the
local chapter of the Texas Public
Employees Association, said the
chapter has sent petitions to the
Legislature asking for a larger
state contribution. These peti
tions recommend full funding
of the deluxe insurance plan for
employees, both active and re
tired, for both years of the bien
nium, in the amount of $91 (»
the first year of the biennim
and $ 109 for the second yeai,
Honea said he has been wort
ing with other institutions ail
the employee retirement syst®
on a legislative package of it
quests for cost containment n
the insurance program. He
the requests include limits
some items being misused in
program.
Dr. Jane Armstrong, chaii
man of the Personnel and Ee
ployee Benefits committee, sa
the committee will need futiii
input as to what the employ#
want to see in their coverage
“I’m sure the committeev
look at what people want, whs
used and what it all costs,” si
said. “Our main problem tt
year has been that the costi
dependent coverage went ii
One of the things that is viable
consider is to look at a dept:
dent coverage that is less tin
the employee coverage. I’m ml
sure how popular it will be,It
sibility.”
it’s a possibility.
Nuclear researchers charge
adviser with ignoring break
United Press International
Unit
NEW YORK — Fusion ener
gy researchers say a laboratory
breakthrough last summer
could bring one source of unli
mited clean nuclear energy into
use at least five years sooner
than had been thought possible.
The Fusion Energy Founda
tion also said President Reagan’s
science adviser, Dr. George
Keyworth, is ignoring the impli
cations of the breakthrough.
The foundation says Keyworth
insists successful fusion energy
is 70 years away when, in fact,
the Japanese expect to have a
prototype commercial fusion
reactor in operation by 1993.
Last summer’s breakthrough
was the conclusion by R.H. Kul-
srud, H.P. Furth and EJ. Valeo
of the Princeton Plasma Physics
Laboratory and M. Goldhaber
of Brookhaven National Labor
atory that “polarized” fusion
fuel can be used for a successful
commercial reaction.
This was, at one time, be
lieved impossible. The founda
tion said if this conclusion is veri
fied in sustained testing, the
problem of producing commer
cial fusion will be vastly simpli
fied.
The foundation’s magazine
said the greatest promise of the
breakthrough is “to accelerate
the beginning of the plasma
age.” This could lead to the di
rect conversion of fuels into
energy without dynamos and to
more economical processing of
ores.
Polarized fuels for fusion
reactions already are being
tested in several countries and
were the subject of extensive dis
cussion at the recent Interna
tional Conference on Plasma
Physics in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Keyworth, formerly with the
Los Alamos Laboratory, told the
Fusion Energy Foundation he
considers the polarized fuel
breakthrough worthy of re
search priority. He said the
funds necessary for testing are
available under the energy
program passed by Congress in
1980 under President Carter.
Paul B. Gallagher, executive
director of the Fusion Energy
Foundation, said that under
Keyworth’s policy direction, the
fusion budget is $125 million
lower than the 1980 act pro
jected.
Gallagher said that instead of
serving as a true science adviser
to President Reagan, Keyworth
insists the United States won’t
have a need for a new source of
energy in the remainder of this
century.
Gallagher said it would be a
wrong to drop other fusion re
search and divert the funds to
testing out the polarized fuel
concept.
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