Yesterday, the FAMCO bargaining team returned to the negotiations table to establish 2024 healthcare premium equivalent rates for faculty.

FAMCO passed our first proposal for 2024 rates back in March. The administration took six months to respond to our initial proposal, sharing their counter for the first time only last week.

In negotiations yesterday, FAMCO reasserted the importance of reaching a timely and fair settlement on 2024 rates given the November open enrollment period the University has proceeded to schedule.

They were joined by 9 FAMCO members who observed the session to support the negotiators, and to make it clear to the administration that members are concerned, informed, and ready to hold the administration accountable to meet the needs of the faculty.

In this latest session, the FAMCO team proposed an affordable and reasonable one year freeze to our current healthcare rates based on our analysis of the nominal cost increase projections provided by the University. Specifically, the FAMCO team demonstrated that the most recent projections provided by the University show that a freeze in 2024 for all employees would cost the University less than $100,000.

The FAMCO team was also able to remind the University of the nearly $2.5 million in savings that has resulted in the decision to move to self-insurance and to make administrative changes to the Rx benefits program, savings that FAMCO believes should be distributed fairly between the University and its employees.

FAMCO continued to discuss the importance of righting the ship of our overall health benefits program that has allowed the University to lower their cost increases over time while faculty’s costs escalated.

The good news is that yesterday the FAMCO team was successful in moving the administration to consider a 2024 rate freeze.

The bad news is that the administration’s counter proposal makes the affordable and fair rate freeze ONLY on the condition that FAMCO accept the addition of three inferior plans to the menu of plan designs.  Not only are these three additional plans the very same ones that our members roundly rejected this time last year, the administration waited until just the final weeks before open enrollment to return to any proposals on plan option changes, foreclosing the opportunity for any real deliberation and collaboration on new plan designs that satisfy the real concerns of our members.

Members may recall that the administration engaged in the same delay of game tactics last year when FAMCO brought member plan design concerns to the reopener table.

In rejecting our non-conditional freeze proposal, the administration once again has framed their attempts to rush through a highly problematic restructuring of our health benefits program as simply their wish to offer employees plan “choice.”

FAMCO’s position is that our members should not have to choose between fair rates and the sustainability of the high quality plans our members deserve.

We know the University can afford to make the right decision on both fair rates and a fair path toward any sustainable further restructuring of the employee benefits program.

The FAMCO negotiating team is back at the table on Monday, and we invite members who are interested to show your support to join us as observers.

For more information on how you can serve as an observer, please contact FAMCO field coordinator, Sanjana Ragudaran