OHSU Puts Management Raises Over Employee Benefits
At today’s Employee Benefits Council meeting, OHSU Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Furnstahl announced a plan that will prioritize raises for management over funding our health benefits, which could lead to increases in out-of-pocket costs as well as a reduction in benefits for everyone at OHSU.
Representatives from AFSCME Local 328, ONA, and other employee groups sit on the Employee Benefits Council (EBC), ensuring that we have a voice in how our healthcare benefits are managed.
Every year, OHSU projects how much they expect our benefits to cost and how much of that increase they will pay for. The increase in cost is usually around 6-8%. We at the EBC are tasked with keeping any increases in the cost of benefits to their requested budget - usually around 6%. This is a frustrating process because we can never meaningfully add to our benefits and are often required to increase out-of-pocket costs to meet the budgetary requirements.
This year, the EBC made requests to right historic funding inequities, centered on increasing fertility funds, covering weight loss medications and restoring over-the-counter medication coverage to pharmacy benefits. Rather than working with the Council, today we were informed that the request was flatly denied.
The forecasts for our next cycle project that our benefits will cost OHSU approximately 12% more, but OHSU has set a target percentage increase of only 8%. This means we would either need to increase out-of-pocket costs, reduce coverage, or likely both.
Mr. Furnstahl cited the ‘labor-demic’ at OHSU and the resulting budget shortfalls as the reasoning for this change. He also stated that instead of maintaining adequate, stable funding for benefits, OHSU chose to prioritize funding increases to management salaries.
As employees, we rely on these benefits to support our well-being and livelihoods. Any reduction in benefits funding could have significant, adverse effects on our financial security and quality of life. While competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits are important for all, raising management salaries should not be funded by sacrificing the well-established benefits program that we ALL rely on.
We, your AFSCME members of the EBC, strongly oppose the financial target we have been given. We will advocate to maintain current levels of benefits with minimal to no increases in out-of-pocket costs, demand the presence of financial representatives at upcoming meetings to justify their targets and explore alternative solutions that uphold our current benefits program without compromising the financial security of employees.