FixFlex.Org

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61 stories. Last updated Thu Jun 19, 9:00 pm
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I am a nurse and work part time in the Medical Intensive Care Unit taking care of the sickest patients in the state of Iowa. My husband’s health insurance covers us and our 2 year old son. The University’s current contribution to my flex health and dependent care accounts is $8308/year. $5000 of that goes towards our son’s daycare and we still have to pay put of pocket each month.

I emailed a FRIC committee member who informed me that under the proposed benefit changes, my flex credits will decrease to $200/month which equals $2400/year. This is a difference of $5908/year.

This will impact my family by not allowing it to grow. Being a stay-at-home mother or father is not an option for us due to financial obligations. We both must work. Without the current level of flex credits, we will be unable to afford the daycare expenses of another son or daughter.

This is tragic.

Sarah Mikesell RN, BSN
Medical Intensive Care Unit
UIHC
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I am 40 years old so I waited pretty much as long as I could to have my lovely children, Georgia who is almost 4 and Ruby who is 8 months old. I was worried last year about having a second child before Georgia was in kindergarten, but given my age, I felt I could not afford the potential health risks associated with waiting another year. So far, my husband John (who is a lecturer) and I have juggled our schedules to be able to stay home with baby Ruby this year, which has been wonderful, however I am anxious to return to my work and to the high degree of productivity which I believe I have demonstrated consistently during my time here. Next year, to have both Georgia and Ruby in daycare full-time will cost us $18,000. Based on our current salary letters which count benefits as part of the total compensation package, we have been relying on the $5,000 in flex benefits we can put towards dependent care (the federal maximum), and we have also been saving money for two years to cover the remaining $13,000. This is real, real money to my family. We drive a 12-year-old car and John and I will both be paying off our student loans well into our 50s. It is just not tenable that I am about to take a seven percent pay cut, I honestly don’t know how I am going to deal with it. Sell my house? Can’t do that, the market is too soft. Only put my kids in daycare three days a week and go into debt just to pay for that *and* not have any time next year to do my research? Probably.

Additionally, we had two failed searches in my department over the past two years, and I think the proposed benefits changes will only hamper our ability to recruit and retain top faculty, especially people in their 30s and 40s who are some of the most productive, dedicated members of our University community.

I thank you for your time and attention, they are much appreciated.

Sasha Waters
Associate Professor of Film & Video
Dept. of Cinema & Comparative Literature
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I think the other point we should not lose sight of is the decrease in disability coverage and life insurance this most likely affects the smallest group of individuals; however those individuals need it the most. I for example as others have been a loyal and productive employee for the U of I for 34 years. I as others had faith in the university to do right by their employees and never sought additional life insurance or disability insurance for my future, thinking what I purchased under the flex benefit program would be adequate and planned my future accordingly.

Unfortunately I will be one of the few employees that may need those benefits since recently my cancer has returned and is terminal. So of course if things go south on me before I retire, the short term disability that I would need until I die would be less and inadequate the death benefit to pay my debts and aid my family when I pass will now also be inadequate. Note I’m now unable with my illness to purchase additional insurance outside of what the university.

I don’t know if you ever had friends at the U of I that needed the disability insurance the university carries, I have and as it stands now with Principal as the provider it is difficult to get it set up or accepted and the staff benefits people do not have a firm grasp of how it works either. So what exist already is poor but on top of that let’s cut it to 60%. I just can not understand how the university can be so heartless to those employees who gave of themselves for the institutions sake and trusted them with their futures just to be discarded because they become ill or are dying. What has happened to this great institution which at one time I was so proud to be apart of?

This has been the program for twenty years, many of us have used this program and what it offered to plan our future and safe guard our families and never sought health insurance and disability insurance outside of this program. Which appears naive now thou I was under the impression that was apart of my benefit package and was one of the reasons although I never became wealthy working here I stayed. It just feels like they have pulled the rug from out under us and our loyalty to university is of no concern to them. I’m sure some people like myself could have made more money working else where but decided to stay because the job was interesting and rewarding and the benefits helped make up the short comings in salaries and yearly raises which until recently were pathetic for a big ten institution.

It is simply a tragedy to think those employees most in need but because of their small numbers staff benefits and the university can ignore them and make there remaining days and those of their families worse.

- Gregory Bredlau
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My wife and I have infant twins, Miriam and Silas, born Dec. 18th, 2007. Since we didn’t want to put our infants into daycare, we have someone come to our house to help with childcare a few hours a day every day. That allows one of us to leave the house and get some work done. The twins are too young yet for a single person to take care of both of them simultaneously. If we lose our benefits, we’ll have to cut back dramatically on the hours of childcare we can afford and we’ll have to forget about ever putting both of them into daycare. Having two kids in daycare simultaneously would become just too expensive. Either my wife or myself will have to stay at home with the children at all times. That will mean that we will become much less engaged with the university as an intellectual community. No more going to talks or presentations. Much less flexibility to meet with students outside office hours. We will do much less administrative work for our department or for the college. Basically, we’ll focus as much time as possible on research in order to find real professional advancement and perhaps get jobs elsewhere. This is all very sad considering the recent iniatives made by the Provost’s Office to provide a real and generous leave arrangement for new parents. It’s also very sad considering that the university has a wise and long-standing policy in favor of spousal hires and other family-friendly policies. These are strong factors in retaining good people. I have had offers from more prestigious and much better endowed institutions but ended up staying here in part because our benefits actually turned out to be better here. If the benefits are cut back as proposed, that won’t be a factor in any future decisions my wife and I make.

Brian Gollnick
Associate Professor
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I work for UIHC, and my husband works outside of the UI. Currently, we purchase insurance through his employer’s medical plan so that we can use my flex benefits for childcare and medical expenses as allowed by the flex spending accounts. I make less than $40,000/year, and I believe that I stand to lose between $5000 and $6000 of tax-free flex spending account credit if this passes as proposed, based on the limited information that has been released.

I appreciate that the UI currently gives me some choices about how to use the dollars they’ve allotted toward my benefits. Since I don’t use those dollars for health insurance, I use them by contributing to healthcare and dependent care spending accounts. With two young girls at home (4 and 7), having the $5000 in a dependent care spending account to put toward childcare is huge. That’s not a theoretical amount of money for me. I’m luckier than some, because soon both of my children will be in school, reducing my childcare expenses significantly. However, with summer and some after school childcare,
I’ll still use all of the $5000 I typically have allotted to my dependent care FSA and add more out-of-pocket. And the remaining flex credits to use for the healthcare expenses have been great, as my younger child unexpectedly needed glasses (and replacement glasses after breaking the first pair) last year, along with all the other typical family medical expenses.

I took this job because of the benefits to my family. When I came to UI, I left behind a higher paying job which required a lot of overtime and kept me on call 24/7 with rare exception. I left so that I could stay within my field but still work regular hours and a reasonable schedule. It was worth it to me to take the pay cut because this job is better for my family. The HR rep who hired me knew that I took a pay cut and promoted the great benefits as part of the compensation.

When I was debating whether to leave my previous employer four years ago, the benefits (and specifically the flex credits program) were a huge factor in my decision, and they continue to be a part of the calculation of compensation for the work I do (as demonstrated in my annual salary letter and the total compensation statement I received last September). I like my job, and for the most part, it does work very well for my family. However, the reason I am working a paid position is to earn financially for my family. If my earning power is cut this significantly, with no change in my job performance or terms, then I have to re-evaluate whether I can afford to stay. As this proposal is coming to light after budgets have been developed and proposed, I don’t imagine that supervisors are going to be able to give compensatory raises to those who are negatively affected. I’m afraid I may have to consider a more family-friendly position to keep my net income the same, and that is hugely disappointing to me.

I signed the petition because I believe that any changes need to be made in a transparent and inclusive manner that respects the fact that benefits are a part of total compensation, a very significant part for some of us. The process must allow review, discussion and revision so that we can get it as right as it can be.

- Jennifer Kaalberg-Freers

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It has taken me a bit of time to get my head around the changes that are being recommended and the effect this will have on my family. I think I was in shock for the first few days and thought maybe our administration would come to our rescue and send the plan back to the drawing board or start a more inclusive discourse to find a solution that will cause less hardship.

That being said, I thought it was time to share my story. I have been with the University for six and a half years and have truly appreciated the benefits and flexibility that has come with my job. My husband and I have five children. Yes, it’s not a typo, we really have five. As you can imagine, the flex credits are crucial to my family’s financial wellbeing. My children range in age from 16 to 1 so we have expenses that run the whole spectrum. We have braces, glasses, surgeries, prescriptions, many many co pays and childcare. In the last year, three of my children have had surgery, two just finished orthodontic treatments and one began, and I have been the lucky recipient of a crown and root canal. With the spiraling cost of healthcare, insurance only covers so much.

Currently, my family purchases our insurance through my husband’s employer because it is much less expensive for us, because we live in Cedar Rapids and don’t want to be penalized with higher co pays just to see our local doctors, and because we can use the flex credits I receive to help with medical expenses and child care. The $5,000 that we can place in a dependent care spending account is very helpful for offsetting our daycare expenses which will surpass $18,000 this year. Every left over credit is always consumed by the medical expenses that are constant with children.

I hear and understand the concerns of the university. I realize that insurance costs continue to rise and that the current system cannot be sustained. I also agree with the goal of providing an equitable program for all and with the notion that changes need to be made. Unfortunately, I am feeling a bit like a sacrificial lamb in this process and I’m not feeling the equitability that they are striving for. If the changes go though as proposed, I will be losing roughly 13% of my take home compensation. There is no equity in this, especially when you realize that by insuring my family elsewhere I have actually saved the university tens of thousands of dollars over the last six years.

Obviously, I am very personally affected by this so I may be biased but to me this doesn’t even come close to equity. So many of us are trying to cope with skyrocketing gas prices and are spending more and more to feed our families and pay our mortgages and now this. While the FRIC committee’s review process may have started almost a year ago, the timeframe for faculty and staff to understand and prepare for these changes is frighteningly short. It just seems terribly disappointing and frustrating that a policy that will have such a detrimental effect on many families is being pushed through more quickly and with fewer opportunities for feedback than the campus smoking ban. I feel that we all deserve an opportunity to come together and find a better solution for everyone.

Karla Hurley
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I am on faculty and my spouse is staff. When we came to the UI about 10 years ago, we both took pay cuts. We came with children who were still using after-school care and a key motivating factor in our decision to come to Iowa was the benefits program. Not only was childcare an issue, but we also had some significant out of pocket medical expenses. Had the proposed benefits plan (which of course has yet to be presented in writing to us!) been in place, the economic impact of the move might well have been sufficiently negative to keep us from coming.

Now, ten years later, both of us have been productive members of the UI community, gaining some recognition for the university by our respective work. This recognition has recently led to a serious effort by another institution to recruit me away from the UI. Up until now I have resisted, but the possibility now seems much more appealing, not so much because of the proposed benefit (compensation!) cuts but because the PROCESS has been one of the most secretive, arrogant, and non-employee friendly processes anyone could have dreamed up. In particular, having it all come to a head at the end of a semester seems nothing more than a cynical effort to make sure things happen when the faculty governance bodies are essentially in adjournment for the summer.

Our children are now in college, and in years when our medical expenses are lower, we have “excess” flex credits. But in other years we do not, because of the nature of our medical situation. But regardless, the proposal will represent a substantial compensation cut. But more importantly the process sends a message to all of us that we are seen as nothing more than replaceable cogs in a wheel.
This is incredibly disappointing.

- Name withheld by request
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I am a P&S employee with “family” status and my spouse is not employed here; but we choose to carry his insurance. Therefore I have my flex money to cover our co-pays, prescriptions, deductibles, daycare, etc… We are expecting our second child in November and would be starting Daycare for Two in January 2009. We will have to sell our house and move into a less expensive one, just to afford the influx of daycare expense that we would be loosing.

- Name withheld by request
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I work at the Hospital and my wife went back to school for the past couple of years, but for the first year of my employment at the University we were putting our flex credits into a dependent care program. Now with my wife going back to work full time and us expecting another child within the next two weeks, we were planning on the dependent care funds to help offset the cost of 2 children going to daycare.

- Name withheld by request
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If the University approves the new benefits proposal I will be losing out on 20% of my salary. They will be taking about $8,800.00 from me as of January 1, 2009 if this change goes into effect. We are on my husband’s company’s insurance so we use my flexible credits towards my only child’s daycare and the rest we put towards what my husband’s insurance doesn’t pay and we use every penny of it every year as well as still having to pay out of pocket. This has helped us out SO much and if they take it away from me my family’s future will be in jeopardy!!! We have been relying on that money and even made future plans that involved that money. We have just found out we are pregnant and if these changes go into affect I don’t even know how we will afford two in daycare. When we were trying to get pregnant we relied on that money in my flex credit account and weren’t aware of these potential changes. We made a huge future commitment that relied on this money and it’s not fair to tell me that in 7 months this money will be taken away when I will need it most! I don’t think they realize how extremely huge of an impact this will be on my work life as well as my personal life. I will have to look for a higher paying job to make up for it, which is sad because I truly love what I do now. This is a huge perk of the University and it is a great option. Everyone always says how the University’s benefits are so great and I used to tell everyone that as well! If they pull away that money from me in 7 months I will think the opposite. They didn’t think of their employee’s lives when they did this, this was purely a selfish decision and it’s not fair to tell me 7 months in advance. This will take years and years of making up for and we should have been notified of it years ago if this was in the works. I have no clue what I will do if this change goes into effect, but I do know that it will take a VERY heavy toll on myself as well as my family!

- Name withheld by request
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My husband and I are two University of Iowa employees who will be severely impacted by the proposed changes to the benefits package; the impact to our salaries will be more than $4200. It is my understanding that the university has a task force working on studying the impact of UI policies on women at the university. It is my understanding that the university is attempting to be more welcoming to women employees. I can only see this benefit cut as a discouragement to women with families. I stayed home with my son for the first year and a half of his life; when a job opportunity opened up at The University of Iowa, the benefits package which would help to cover his daycare expenses was a major factor in my deciding to return to work.

The possibility of using flex credits for medical expenses was the major factor in our decision to apply to adopt a child with a disability from China. Our referral, a 3 year-old girl who will need hand surgery, came shortly after the cuts were proposed. This adoption has been in the planning stages for such a long time, and now we feel broadsided by the proposed changes. We don’t take the decision to adopt lightly, but our joy at her coming is certainly now tempered by our concern about how to afford her care.

We have used a University of Iowa affiliated daycare, but the subsidy they receive from the university has been revoked forcing them to greatly increase their fees. Again, this does not demonstrate to me that the university is interested in the concerns of its women employees. I would like to think that the University values all its employees and understands that for our constituents — our students — to be best served all employees must be treated respectfully and given compensation and respect in accordance with the service we provide the University. At this present moment I feel neither compensated nor respected.

Name withheld by request
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As an employee with a family and healthcare obtained outside of UIHC, I calculated my annual income (base salary + flex credits) under the current system and under the proposed system. Depending on which components of the new system I accept or decline, this will result in a 10-13% cut in annual income. This is about $5,000 to $6,300 annually, or $422 - $532 per month. I do not make a large income ($43,000 base salary) or live frivolously off of these flex dollars. For me that money is over 30% of our annual daycare expenses and much of the out-of-pocket/medical expenses for our family of four. I take great offense to those who claim I am whining or simply thinking about “me, me, me”. If this cut were only $100 a month, then yes, I would be whining. However, worrying about a 12% income reduction is a realistic concern.

When I began employment at UIHC in July of 2005, my total annual income (base + benefits) was $43,356, nearly $500 more than I will have following the proposed cuts. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased 20% since April of 2005 (taken from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics), and I will have less to budget our expenses with than I did back then. This, after 3 years of hard work, dedication and devotion to my job.

I can understand why the University wants to change the benefits system and agree that changes need to be made. However, the proposed changes are too fast and swing the pendulum too far.

Name withheld by request
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My husband is a resident at UIHC and I work part-time. We have a 1-year-old daughter that goes to daycare while I am at work. Since my husband is a resident, we use his benefits package to cover our healthcare costs. I use my flex credits for dental insurance, life insurance, supplemental life insurance, dependent/spousal life insurance, disability insurance, death and dismemberment coverage, and dependent and healthcare spending accounts.

I put the maximum amount I can into the dependent care spending account that the government allows. This still doesn’t cover our daycare costs but it helps tremendously. With this proposal, I would lose quite a bit of the money I was putting towards that dependent care spending account. It would essentially cut that amount in half. As our daughter is getting older, my husband and I have begun talking about expanding our family. With the changes proposed by FRIC, I don’t believe with 2 children that I would be able to continue working. So essentially, if the proposed changes go through, FRIC has made my decision for me once I have another child. Without the flex money to put in the dependent care spending account, I would essentially be working to pay for daycare. It’s rather easy to see that doesn’t make sense. I don’t want this to be the reason I do not continue to work.

This is my biggest complaint with the proposed changes, but I haven’t even carefully thought about what I would do about the loss of the Supplemental Life Insurance, Dependent/Spousal Life Insurance, and Death/Dismemberment Insurance. Again, this is speculation since we still don’t know exactly what they are offering in these areas.

I like to think that my work is valued at the University and they may be trying to save money, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that would have to walk away if these changes go through. How much is it going to cost the University to advertise for and train new employees for those that can’t afford to stay?

- Name withheld by request
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I have worked at UIHC for 5 years and we receive our insurance through my husband’s employment with a different company. Unfortunately, the insurance is not very good. We spend a good chunk of my flex benefits just covering co-pays for dr. appointments and procedures for our son, as well as my husband, who has a medical condition. We additionally use flex credits to assist (does not totally pay) in our childcare expenses. If this plan goes through, we will be out around $7000 per year. I understand that the outside community is looking in saying, “None of the rest of the world receives these flex credits and we do just fine,” but I’m not sure they realize that this is part of our salary-it says it right there in my annual salary letter. That means that this is money that we count on for these various things and this is going to take a huge chunk away from us. Salaries, in general at UIHC are lower than other places, partly because the benefits are so good. If they strip this away, I will have to look elsewhere, where I can be compensated better. Adding insult to injury is that this is not even going to be a gradual process. If it’s approved-it starts Jan. 1. We were planning on adding to our family, but between daycare costs and hospital bills, unfortunately that will have to be put on hold. My husband is in need of a surgical procedure we were planning on for early next year, but that may have to be put on hold as well. Let’s see anyone else out there take a 15% pay cut and see how it affects their life. We do not live in excess. We live month to month.

- Name withheld by request
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This new proposal will cost my family thousands of dollars a year. My family of four makes considerable use of dental benefits, and three of us wear glasses, so we have used flex credits to partly offset the high costs of new glasses prescriptions. Also, several of the family members must take regular prescription medications that are only 50% covered by our health plan; we spend ~$1500 in extra prescription costs each year, which we have been able to offset considerably with our Healthcare spending account. No more. I can understand a need to rein in benefit costs, but this proposal is so draconian, and was agreed upon by so few to affect so many, it is a real shock. UI benefits were a major attraction of this position. It will definitely push me to look elsewhere.

This feels like taking a large, undeserved salary cut to me.

- Name withheld by request
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My wife and I both work for the University and stand to lose in the neighborhood of $5000-6000 per year in flex benefits. Roughly $5000 of our current flex credits are used to partially off-set tuition at our university-affiliated day care for our two children. Broken down, flex gives us roughly $417 per month to help pay for $1300+ per month for day care. My wife has a chronic neck problem which contributes to frequent migraines - we spend whatever is left on her health needs (medicine, doctor-prescribed therapeutic massage and chiropractic sessions), and this money is usually gone by mid-late summer, so we pay out of pocket after that.

People need to understand these most recent proposed cuts are not occurring in isolation from other cuts that impact many of these same families.

Last year the University cut its support funding to the university-affiliated day cares, which is resulting in a phased in, sizeable increase in monthly tuition. Parents must be affiliated with the university to send their children to these day cares, so everyone getting hit with this is a UI employee or student. Students were still being partially subsidized last I heard, but that support too will be eliminated (if it hasn’t been already).

A few years ago, when I was still a graduate student, we suffered through these benefit cuts when the University and COGS decided that employees had to be the same classification to claim double credits. Prior to the revised agreement, it was enough that both spouses were simply employed by the University. At that time, most people received less than two months’ notice of the cuts, resulting in significant hardship. Taking a position at the University after graduation was a financially viable choice for us because of the benefits package that would become available to us as two employees of the same classification. We felt confident in these benefits sticking around, with the University’s overall reputation as a “family-friendly” employer, and yet here we are…

- Name withheld by request
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I am a Clerk IV, which means that my status is sort of a hybrid between the PS & Merit systems. I have Merit vacation & my pay raises are in “steps” like the Merit system, but I have the P&S benefits package with Flex credits. I am 58 years old and have more than 20 years of service at the University this time (And I worked for the University for 11 years earlier in my life.) My husband was a P&S employee but due to cuts backs in his department, he was forced to take early retirement at age 58. I’m not sure how this will affect me due to his status!

Three years ago I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Consequently I must test blood sugars regularly, and I am on 2 high blood pressure meds plus a statin to lower cholesterol. For many years I did not use all of my flex credits, but for the last 3 years I have. In an effort to stave off the day when I become a true diabetic, I have been focusing on taking care of long over-due health care needs. Early this year my first dental implant was completed, and I’ll begin work on the 2nd (and last) one in July. I planned to split the costs over a 2 year time frame to be able to do this last (expensive one that requires a sinus lift). My husband had a triple by-pass in 2000, and the odds are that he will need to have another one within a 5-7 year window.

Loosing my flex benefits at a time when I most need them will make a major impact on my finances. If I loose credits, I will need to re-consider whether I’ll need to consider a dental implant ($5000) elective vs. required. My dentist says I’ll loose more teeth, so that may mean dentures!

As a long-time loyal employee who has donated many many free hours to my department, college, institution, I feel betrayed. I am now starting to use (not abuse!) my flex credits after years of not using many/any of them, and now they are in peril of being drastically cut.

- Name withheld by request
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I was shocked to learn about the proposed changes to the flex benefit system and the effect that it would have on my family.  The proposed changes would cut about $6000 from my flex benefits.  This is about 15% of my base salary.  The idea that these changes may go into effect beginning next January is very upsetting and frightening.  This is a significant loss of income for my family, and my husband and I will need to make some difficult choices next year if these changes go into effect.  We have made contribution and purchase commitments based on these benefits, and in some cases, these are commitments that we most likely would not have made had we known that our income would be cut drastically in less than a year.

My family gets health insurance through my husband’s work, so we use flex credits for dependent care. I have greatly valued the flex benefits that we use for dependent care for our two children (ages 8 and 3).   Anyone with children knows that decent child care can be hard to find in the Iowa City area, and it is very expensive.  (I’m curious to know if anybody who has worked on these proposed changes has any idea how expensive child care is.)

Each year, we have used all of the allowable $4,999 for dependent care and any extra credits have gone into our health care spending account.
In every year of my employment, I’ve returned health care credits, even in 2005 when I had a baby.  In the past two years, my health care credits have been greater than $3500, and I returned over $1200 in both years. If I were certain that everybody in my family would remain healthy, then I could safely say that we could get by with fewer flex credits. I don’t seek unnecessary opportunities to spend this money.

I’ve never understood why flex credits that go toward health care are tied to salary.  It doesn’t make sense that someone making three times my salary should need a great deal more in health care credits while someone who makes much less than me should have very little.   These proposed changes result in a big and sudden salary cut for me.  I’m hurt that the University would do something like this at all, but the suddenness and the secretiveness of the change is really hard to believe.

I agree that the distribution of flex credits offered by the current system is in need of serious revision, but there must be a more equitable way of redistributing credits so that families like mine aren’t hit so hard.  The thought of having to manage our finances on $6000 less beginning next January will create some serious challenges for my family, challenges that we hadn’t anticipated.  I strongly urge HR and FRIC to consider families in our situation and, at the very least, to delay or phase in the implementation of these changes.

– Name withheld by request
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I am a dentist in the College  of Dentistry.  In my 20 years of serving the needs of UI staff, I can speak to the importance of flex credits.  Dental insurance is (and will remain) minimalistic. Wisdom teeth extractions, root canals, crowns, implants, treatment for gum disease, dentures, partial dentures, implants and orthodontia likely require out-of-pocket payments beyond what insurance covers.  In listening to patients, most tell me they choose to work at the university due to benefits.  Flexible credits are put to good use for out-of-pocket needs including deductibles, medications, dental, and dependent care. A significant number of staff live in surrounding areas and commute via van pools because they already cannot afford Iowa City’s cost of living, and additional gas and parking.  The health, life and disability benefits package helps them offset significant expenses associated with working here.

When flex credits were introduced the university heralded them as progressive. Now, the plan is described as generous in comparison to other universities.  So be it.  I know of few other universities that house undergraduate, graduate, professional colleges, and a hospital under the same management and in a reasonably rural area.  The University of Iowa is unique and, to maintain its quality, we should strive to improve salary and benefits for all as opposed to what FRIC has proposed.

Ana M. Diaz-Arnold
Professor
Department of Family Dentistry
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I am extremely disappointed in the University of Iowa.  If this proposed change to my flex credits goes through it will put a huge financial burden on my family.  My family includes: myself, my husband, and my two children (five and eight years of age).  We receive or Health care and Dental care coverage through my husbands employer.  This made sense for us because of my flex credit options.  I put $4800 in my daycare spending account and $3552 in my health care spending account last year, and used every dime.  In fact this did not pay for all my daycare and health care expenses.  I truly value every dime of this money that the University gave me in flex credits.  To me this is a HUGE benefit!  It has been the number one reason I have continued to work at the University of Iowa.  In fact, I was recently recruited by another organization and decided not to leave because the other employer could not match what I was making at the University when including my flex credits as part of my salary.  If my flex credits are taken away then I am sure that the next time I am approached by another organization it will much easier for me to leave.  I truly believe that if the University of Iowa makes this change that there will be many employees that will find it easier to leave.  I believe that recruitment and retention will be negatively impacted as well as the morale of many employees.  And we all know that when morale is low so is productivity. I have had two Rn’s tell me that they will look for employment elsewhere if their flex credits are taken away.  This is not good; we already have a Nursing shortage.

If my flex credits are taken away it will be like giving me a $8352 a year cut in pay!  With gas prices going up daily and the price of almost every essential need on the rise, a pay cut for my family could not come at a worse time.  I hope that Sally Mason makes the right decision and does not approve this change.

– Name withheld by request
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Removing the dependent care account option could have a significant effect
on womens’ decision-making about employment, particularly women in entry or
junior level positions. To illustrate: I have two children, now ages 12 and
16. When they were young and in daycare, I worked as an RA II with a base
salary of around $20-25K per year. I depended on my dependent care account
to help pay for childcare, which at that time was over $900 per month for
two children even with sliding scale and multiple child discounts at Alice’s
Bijou and the Sprout House, which at that time received some university
funding. (I did hear that this was cut a while ago). I could not have paid
for quality child care without using my dependent care account. A simple
cost-benefit analysis would probably have led me to stay at home with my
kids rather than paying most of my take-home salary to someone else to care
for them. Given that childcare costs have continued to rise since my own
children were in full-time daycare, I see this part of the FRIC proposal as
a significant disincentive to work for married women with young children.

– Margaret Tyler
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I am a full-time P&S employee at the U of I in the College of Medicine and my spouse is a full-time P&S employee in the Chemistry Department.  We have 2 children, ages 2 and 4 that require full-time daycare.  I have been an employee at the U of I for about a 1 1/2 years and my wife has been an employee for more than 7 years.

About a year and a half ago, I made a career decision to join the U of I as a staff member.  This was a very difficult decision for my wife and I, because I was taking a significant pay decrease (about 18%) to join the staff at the U of I.  After much debate and careful calculations, we were able to justify the decrease in pay because of the benefit package that was available to us at the U of I.  Without this benefit package, there is no way we could have justified the change of career at that point of our lives.  We definitely depend on the flex benefits to help us pay for the cost of daycare (using $5,000 of our flex credits).  This year, we will spend around $18,000 for daycare costs. While I understand that these benefits are very generous and not easy to find with other employers, this was the package that was offered to us and the information with which we made all of our decisions. With the proposed system, we stand to lose about $4,300 in flexible benefits.  This is approximately a 5% pay cut to our family.    I would like to put in my plea to the UI administration to step back and get all the information and truly understand the impact this change will have on families.  Many people in our situation understand the problems with sustainability of our current benefits plan, however, the families most affected by this are going to be the people that can afford it the very least.   We understand cuts are in the future, however, we would like to be offered the respect to come to a compromise that does not place a distressing negative financial impact to our family in such a short time period.    We, as a U of I community, need to come together to outline a plan that is fair and equitable for everyone.

The whole process has seemed very secretive and there has been a lack of information that has been passed onto the U of I community until very recently.   Also, it seems like the decision is being very rushed since the employees only found out about the proposal about 6 weeks before the President was to review and approve.  Overall, a lot of trust has been lost between the University of Iowa and its employees, across many different colleges.  Many employees are very loyal to this institution with strong ties to it (both my wife and I hold degrees from the U of I), and want to contribute to the well being of the enterprise.  This is a huge decision for the University of Iowa, and it should not be taken lightly.  This will definitely affect recruiting and retention going forward, and I hope this is taken into consideration.

Brad Seaton
University of Iowa
Carver College of Medicine
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My husband and I are both UI P&S employees, and the proposed pay cut would have a significant impact on our household income. We decided to pursue careers at the UI because of the dual spouse employee benefits. We allocate a portion of our flex dollars to our dependant care spending account. This allows us to offset costs for summer care and after school care for our two children, 8 and 10.

Of most concern to us is the impact of this proposed pay cut on our health care spending account. We have used flex dollars to pay for complementary/preventive medical care (especially acupuncture, but also massage therapy and chiropractic care) during my breast cancer treatment. My UIHC internal medicine physician and UIHC radiation oncologist prescribed complementary medical care as an important part of my cancer treatment. UI BlueChoice does not pay for such procedures, so our flex spending account is our only way to offset the cost of these essential medical treatments on an ongoing basis.

- Jennifer Masada
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Changes to the flex credit system should not be considered in isolation from two other issues: salary compression and child care resources on campus.

As anyone who looks at the P & S pay grade quartile system will notice, for years now, the increase to the overall salary quartiles has been more on average than the yearly raises so wherever you start on the grid is roughly where you will stay and sometimes you will fall behind. The University did away with its salary decompression program years ago (whereby if you fell below your current quartile, you could get a larger, one-time bump to keep you on the grid). Now salaries just continue to be compressed over time.

Child care at the University has been under attack for some time. The University affiliated day cares lost University support and that money is now metered out to students in a voucher-like system. I support students getting childcare $$. But it has to be noted that the money they get is the same money that used to (however minimally) support quality, nationally accredited child care on campus. Again, the consequence (intended or not) of these policy changes is to pit one group of employees against another.

Finally, on a personal note, the flex credit system was an invaluable safety net when my then 7 year-old (now 11) son got bone cancer. What could’ve been a financial catastrophe for my family was largely mitigated by the flex credit money I had available to pay our many, many out of pocket expenses that resulted from his illness.

- Jennifer Britton
Program Manager
Iowa COMPASS/IPAT
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We’ve hired several new young people in past 2-3 years in our department who have young families. They have agreed to take the plunge with less salary dollars available (which is a trend in our college), and join us with the incentive of their benefits, and most using the $5K per year as dependent care funds. I had a woman tell me yesterday who started with us in October that the benefits were the single biggest reason that she accepted the less desired annual salary knowing that they would have the money for their child for daycare.

She now does not think that her family will be able to afford a second child if this benefit gets taken away so quickly. As you can see, this is such a significant impact on people of this demographic at the UI. People in this situation need to make far bigger decisions with this proposal than just where to recoup the funds in their own financial situations. These are the newest and lowest paid people with absolutely the highest cost of living. With the concern of aging staff at the UI, I do not feel like this is the message we want to send for the next generation of our leaders.

- Amber Seaton
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There likely is a huge group of people who will likely not benefit from this as well. This being the person that has a spouse that carries the insurance elsewhere. I use my flex credits for dependent and health care accounts. I can see this affecting a LARGE number of nursing staff at the hospital who are dependent on this benefit.

$8000 is a lot of money to be taking out of a salary. I fear nurses might choose to quit thus making the nursing shortage a more drastic problem then it currently is. Some people at the Hospital travel a long distance to work here, partly for the salary but also for the benefits. Why would they not want to choose to stay in there community to work? Might save enough in gas to take a decrease in salary.
This has recently been forwarded on to nursing but I am afraid many nurses are still unaware of this proposed change.

- Kris Bonnett
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I haven’t seen all of the details of the plan so I can’t say what my loss will be for sure, but I use all of the $5,000 of child care benefits allowed currently. Please note that I have 2 children in daycare, and my daycare costs are about $15,000 per year - so it’s not like I’m cleaning up on it or anything.

- Bret Okones
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My family expects health related expenses this year for co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles, and benefit limits. This has been for long-term/life-long chronic conditions, required medication, eye exams for our children (not to get new glasses and frames, but for needed prescription updates), and orthodontia. With the loss of Dental III, our orthodontic costs only increase what we would have to pay. We expect our out-of-pocket costs, even with family out-of-pocket-maximums (OPM) considered, to reach $6500 (or more) in one year, knowing that $4500 per year is a certainty. (This has occurred several times before.) This assumes that the OPM will not increase. Is this an accurate assumption? I understand that we could have some spending account dollars (90 credit, 40 for not using dental, etc), but with this, our net loss will still be around $4500 per year.

We will still need to pay these bills. We don’t keep the reimbursement money. It all goes to pay the doctors, pharmacy, physical therapists, orthodontist, and dentist. These changes will cause major adjustments in our budgeting. Saving more for our children’s future college is in question.

The UI has been a great place to work for so many years, and has many wonderful stories and successes. We appreciate that. Some changes may be warranted to the current system, but respectfully, isn’t there a more reasonable approach, with more input, and more positive results? This affects married couples with both employed at UI, but also many others with spouses working elsewhere who are impacted in similar ways for child care and/or health care as pertains to their situation. Some, but not all, have incomes below my family income, which will feel the impact even more. I suspect others are impacted similarly.

- Name withheld by request
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I’ll give you some hard numbers. I am a family of four with 2 young children.

I work at the U, my wife works in Cedar Rapids. We are on her health insurance and dental for two reasons. One, it’s actually cheaper for our family, and two, it offers us better flexibility to go to our doctors in CR. My wife works 2nd shift, so our daycare needs are rather complex.

We have two children, aged 7 and 4. The 7 year old is in school, but still requires daycare after school because I don’t get home in time to take care of him. The 4 year old is in preschool, but still requires daycare because preschool is only twice a week, and my wife leaves for work at 2:30PM, long before I get home from Iowa City. Our average daycare costs per month are $420, so let’s say $5000 annually. (Any parent will tell you this is CHEAP for daycare)

I am on medication that costs $700 annually. Our deductibles for insurance are $500 a piece, so potentially $2,000 annually.

We are using flex credits as follows (if I’m figuring this correctly):

Healthcare and Dental come out of my wife’s benefits, so we are still paying for that out of her salary. The U of I flex credits have nothing to do with this.

My total flex credits are ~$8000 annually. We put $5000 annually towards childcare (and use it all).
The remaining $2600 per year we put towards healthcare. Since my medication alone is $700, we are left with $1900 to cover deductibles and other non-covered costs for all 4 of us (of course if everyone
hits their deductible, it’s $2000 for the year so we are still $100 short). The rest goes for extra life insurance for us and the kids, plus disability, AD&D, etc.

Under this plan, if I understand it correctly, I’ll get a flat rate of $200 a month, for a total of $2400. This is a reduction of nearly $6K. This won’t even cover all our medical expenses, and you can
forget about childcare and life insurance.

Tell me again how I’m supposed to come up with an extra $500 a month when it already costs me $16 a day in gas & parking to commute to work?? (And no, I can’t take the van pool…the van pool doesn’t stop at my baby sitter’s and she has a schedule that I can’t keep unless I drive myself)

- Name withheld by request
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My family stands to lose 10% of my salary if flex credits are cut. Currently, we pay $100/mo to put me on my husband’s insurance plan so that I don’t have to keep track of two insurance policies for the family. That leaves my flex credits for our family’s health and dependent care costs. With two small children in daycare, the first $5000 goes very quickly. The remainder is spent variably year to year.
Sometimes we use up all the FSA (like in the years our children were born or the year I had to have the rabies vaccine treatment after being bitten by a stray animal), and other times leftover money reverts back to the UI. The proposed benefits cut will substantially impact our finances, and the “incentives” in the proposed plan will not even come close to replacing the lost flex credits.

- Name withheld by request
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I urge the leadership of this institution to consider the negative effects these changes will have on UI families. My wife (a UIHC researcher) and I (a merit employee) have two children under three, and we depend heavily on our benefits packages to give them quality child- and healthcare. This new plan amounts to a $5,800 pay cut for my family, or 9% of our income. Despite the University’s 20-year history of treating two married employees like the two employees they are, the FRIC has decided that we are not worth being compensated as two employees.

No one works at a public university because of the huge salaries. Salaries are typically lower than what one could receive in the private sector, or even at other Big 10 universities. These benefits packages serve to bring total compensation further into line with our competition. This new policy will hurt recruitment and retention of quality employees at a time when the national economy is itself hurting and families most need the benefits they receive. My wife and I came here from Massachusetts for her post-graduate fellowship. After she completed her fellowship, we could have left, returning to our families on the east coast. Instead, I can tell you that one of the things that has kept us in Iowa and at the University is the benefits (not the pay!). Iowa’s nice, but this pushes me and my family much closer to leaving the area.

This proposal has made me think about the value this University perceives its employees to have, and about the way future decisions will be made. I’m concerned that the FRIC played fast-and-loose with the principle of shared governance. I’m concerned that an organization which doesn’t seem capable of making quick decisions on most subjects (it took 5 months to get office furniture after I was hired, for example) was able to come to such a momentous decision in such a short time. I’m concerned that the personal circumstances of the members of the FRIC may have prevented them from seeing how the proposal would hurt those unlike themselves. I’m concerned that while Governor Culver has stated his concerns regarding young people leaving Iowa, and President Mason has spoken of her desire to bring women into the University at better pay, these lofty goals seem antithetical to the proposed changes. After all, the young women Mason wishes to recruit are often mothers; they are often married to other young people who Governor Culver would like to see stay in Iowa; and those couples often have young children to care for.

Those people won’t be lured to the University, and they won’t stay in Iowa, just because our leaders want them to.

- Name withheld by request
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If I understand the benefits proposal correctly, I would come out ahead or at least break even with my $90 of general credit. While every little bit helps, I am extremely appalled that it is at the expense of my co-workers/friends especially married couples at the U of I. I do believe that married couples should be given benefits separately. After all, you don’t share your spouse’s UI job responsibilities, why should you have to share their benefits.

Name withheld by request
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I will be positively impacted by the changes suggested by FRIC. I’m fall under the category of a single parent covering the insurance costs for family health care status (as my spouse is a stay at home parent at this point in time).

What’s difficult for me to understand is the reallocation of the benefits “pie.” Under the current plan why does one group (double spouse, or families with two wage earners that have family health insurance coverage outside UI) benefit while another group (singles covering more than themselves with health insurance) loses? Under the new plan this will be reversed. It seems like there should be a way for everyone to benefit, instead of one group or another group.

My spouse was employed prior to becoming a stay at home parent and we did choose to use that insurance because we could then roll my flex credits to daycare expenses. It certainly didn’t cover all of the daycare bill, but it helped a lot. It was a really nice perk.

Once my spouse became a stay at home parent, we had to be covered under the UI plan. I’d like to point out that my flex credits DO NOT cover all of the costs for the health insurance for my family (it’s a few dollars short). So to have any other benefits I have to pay out of pocket, to the tune of $300 per month ($3600 a year).

If I’ve calculated this correctly, under the new plan, I will only pay about $150 to insure my family for health and dental, etc. (Although the reduction in disability insurance and other reductions in life insurance aren’t so great of a deal.)

Regarding salaries- there will be changes in the future with compensation and classification issues related to the UI paying more of a market value for positions, so I feel that situation will look up for most UI staff.

Although I stand to benefit under the newly proposed plan (that is, until my spouse returns to work), I have to say I don’t agree with the way these changes have been brought about in secrecy and I’m really disappointed that current employees were not consulted earlier in the process. UI could certainly do better.

Name withheld by request

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My wife and I have worked for the University of Iowa Hospitals and clinics for a total of 47 years ( 27 and 20). We are in our 40s with two children- 13 & 14. From what I am reading the policy/benefit change would have the most impact on our benefits. To be honest, it is the benefits that make working for the University of Iowa more attractive and have kept us at the university. I believe this is a way of attracting and retaining staff. I believe without these benefits the attraction to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics is effected.

- Name withheld by request
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The proposal by FRIC will definitely impact our family’s health planning for the foreseeable future as well as causing us to reevaluate how we approach our insurance decisions. Currently we utilize the family plan offered to my spouse through their work. We then use our flex credits to pay for medical costs not covered by health insurance and to purchase dental and life insurance to further protect us and our children.

The flex credits allow us to pursue treatment of our allergies which, especially in my case, greatly effects our general health and the amount of time we are absent from work and school. This treatment is expensive, not covered by insurance, and we would not be able to cover it through other means.

Additionally, the flex credit system helps us to afford the costs normally encountered with growing children as well as the realities of not getting any younger for my spouse and I. Prescription and OTC medications, care for our eyes, glasses, and braces all are covered by the use of flex credits and the Dental III plan, which is scheduled to be eliminated as well, adding insult to injury. Obviously, we would have to address these needs even if flex credits were not included in my compensation package, but the added out-of-pocket costs associated with them could easily make public employment untenable and force me to seek employment in the private market in order to pay for them.

None of the options available to us will allow us to continue as before. We could not have foreseen my compensation package being so dramatically cut, nor was there open and honest communication that such drastic changes could be in the works.

It is very possible that the best case scenario for us would be to switch our coverage for myself and our kids from my spouse’s work to the University plan. The added costs of insuring us would surely negate any cost savings the University would see by taking the flex credits away.

The consequences faced by our family are similar to those of most of the people I have spoken to about this. I firmly believe that the long-term result of this action would be higher turnover in employees, more employees utilizing the offered health insurance rather than taking the negligible incentive credits, and ultimately doing nothing more for the University than to move expenses from one line item in the budget to other line items. The cost to employee morale and trust however would be a blow that the University could not recover from for a generation of employees.

Name withheld by request
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In 1999, I started working at UI. Our family relocated to another state due to my spouse’s employment. One of the many reasons we chose to return to The University of Iowa was my salary/benefit package. We buy our health insurance through my spouse’s company and use my flex benefits to pay for our medical expenses, dental, and childcare expenses. We have three young children, the youngest with a medical condition.
Currently, 17% of my total compensation package is made up of flex benefit credits. After much searching, I was able to locate the proposed changes at Staff Council dated 5/14/08 and calculated how my flex credits would change with the new proposal. My salary package would decrease 10.5 %
Please consider the many young families who will be affected by the proposed plan. These are the employees who represent the future of The University of Iowa.

Name withheld by request
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My wife and me are both employees of the University and after going over these pending Flex changes it is really starting to worry us. If these changes go into effect we will personally be looking at an out of pocket increase of $300 a month for child care and complete elimination of any Health Care Spending we’ve been able to accrue under the current system. This is in addition to the fact that our child was diagnosed with a chronic disease that will be requiring a good share of hospitalizations and numerous procedures and appointments for years to come. Just this last month we received a $1200 bill for the latest visit which as it stands we might be able to cover with our current flex credits (unlikely though) and under the new proposal this would be all out of pocket. We’ve had a financial plan that we’ve been working on for the last five years and it is finally paying off as we expected and these changes could set us back another 5 years at least.

I’m not saying the Flex system couldn’t use a tweak, but if the University wants to stay be an employer of choice, this is not the way to go about it. Please take some more time and come up with at least 2 if not 3 options and let the employees have a real voice in the process as this will affect many in a very negative way if it stays as proposed.

Name withheld by request
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I am a P&S staff member with a spouse who is a Merit staff member, thus a recipient of double-spouse credits. I have been eligible for flex credits since 1985 or whenever they started, whichever came first. I have used them well, first covering thousands of dollars of childcare expenses when my children were young. We have our health insurance plan through my husband. I have chosen to spend the flex credits on dental, increasing my life insurance, 70% long term disability, AD&D, with the remainder going into my healthcare spending account since my children are of an age where daycare is no longer required. As my husband and I increase in age, so do our prescriptions and treatments. For the first four months of 2008, I have submitted over $400 in expenses for reimbursement.

Last August I made the bold decision at the age of 47 to seek orthodontic treatment since I hadn’t done so as a child. I was able to do this ONLY because my flex benefits would pick up the difference that dental insurance would not cover. I paid $1,000 down, and have been paying $125 per month and get reimbursed for 70% of that. If my flex credits are discontinued in 2009, I am left paying for the bulk of $4800 in orthodontics, a decision that was made with better benefits and one I would not have made had I not had sufficient funds to cover it.

In addition, we have monthly prescriptions which have an out of pocket payment required of over $100 per month. One of those prescriptions alone is over $70 (25% of the total monthly cost of $280+). My husband takes a brand name prescription - has tried all of the cheaper generics and none of them work. I am also well aware that flex credits cover over-the-counter drugs and I seek reimbursement for as much as I can when I remember.

Do I think the current system is fair and equitable? No, it is not. I am willing to forfeit 40% of my flex credits to give it to the “piece of the pie” that feels it’s inequitable.

I am not in favor of eliminating the benefit entirely because it would place a severe hardship on me and my family and, in effect, would have the same impact as an 11% pay cut. This is grossly unfair, especially with such little time to plan (and so much of my orthodontic work left to pay that was unanticipated!).

Name withheld by request
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Family of 4, one works for UI, one works outside, one 2 year old, one 7 year old.

Current situation:
**Health and dental Insurance from the outside company (high deductable plan $2000)
About $4000 health spending account covers the deducible and none -covered spending.
**Daycare + after school cost: $15000 (greatly helped with $5000 dependent account)

Under the new plan:
We would have to buy a better health plan with much high premium.
The $200 incentive to not buying insurance from UI would be even out with a high premium for a better health plan from outside.
Estimate losing all $9000 pre-tax money. More than 18% of my salary.

If we choose buy insurance from UI, 20% premium of the family would be out of pocket cost .
(UI insurance premium is much higher comparing to the other company)
We may end up buying 2 health insurance plan. (How does that work?)

Name withheld by request

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I am a single mother of 3 children and therefore every penny counts. This change in benefits will impact me a great deal. As it is I cannot afford to live in the Iowa City area and have to commute. With the price of gas it is now even more of a financial pinch. The benefits are basically one of the only reasons I have stayed on at UIHC. I do not care for the reasons given by administration. The bottom line is it can spend millions on redecorating every year, but cannot allocate money towards employee retention. I have yet to fathom why we need such an “impressive” looking facility anyway considering the majority of the patients are state paid. Why spend so much on impressing those that are not even responsible for their account and then give the employees excuses that it is too expensive to keep the current benefit package? Thereby causing them to have financial difficulty!

After all our annual salary letter jokingly boasts the benefits as part of our salary to make you feel like you’re making a lot more than you actually do. What a joke this all is. I’m already looking for other employment. One of the reasons holding me back was because nobody could match the benefits…..guess that isn’t going to matter now!

Name withheld by request

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My wife and I are both employed at UIHC and have spent the majority of our flex money the past couple years on multiple oral surgeries and orthodontics for our daughter. We are now nearing the point where she will have implants placed for the missing teeth, which is an expensive proposition. Had we known we may be losing this flex benefit we may have been able to explore alternatives. Changing the rules in the middle of a game is not only unfair; in some cases this change will have a negative impact on people’s health.

Dave Tatman
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I am perplexed and baffled about many aspects of this dubious proposal, which, any way you look at the situation, is tantamount to a major pay cut for someone in the critical $30,000 - $70,000 salary range.
My wife is employed outside the University of Iowa and we are both insured under her medical plan. Between us we have endured more than 20 major surgeries and it is nearly an even split. I have been thankful for the flex credits we have had over the years. They have filled the gap for deductibles, various medical devices and services, and the constantly escalating expense of the myriad medications we must take, both prescription and over the counter. Despite statements that these funds are squandered on “sunscreen and bandaids,” I will tell you that the aforementioned medications, medical devices, and so forth are critical to our wellbeing and I deeply resent the implications of the “sunscreen and bandaids” statement.
To discover now that these credits will most certainly be removed from our family budget is shocking and appalling, particularly in light of the secretive manner in which FRIC handled the entire situation. The FRIC approach is shameful and an egregious violation of due process, something Sheldon Kurtz, of all people, might know a little something about.
I go on record as vehemently protesting this proposal. I would like to think that a fair outcome will ultimately prevail.

Robert Helle
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My wife and I have both worked here for the last 14 years. We have a 7 yr old, 4 yr old, and a baby due in August. My wife works part time (65%) and I work full time. Our combined income is in 75K range depending on how much overtime I work. This proposal will GREATLY affect my wife and me. We don’t make six figures like a lot of people do and this will hurt us more then most. With the cost of gas, groceries, UIHC parking, and many more economic raises I don’t know if we can keep up. We currently put the max amount (aprox. $5,000) into dependant care and we have about $3000 left over for Healthcare. With a baby due in August our daycare expenses will double. We will be paying over $800 a month. With our dependant care now, we would only have to pay about $400 a month. We don’t usually use our entire healthcare but we use a large chuck of it. With kids being sick, glasses, contacts, kids medicines, and I have asthma and need prescriptions. With the baby due this year we would probably have used our entire healthcare spending this year. My wife and I would loss close to $8,000 a year. I don’t feel this is fair. Maybe the young families that don’t make as much money can keep their flex credits and the amount can decrease as the kids get older.

Name withheld by request
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When I took my current position at the UI 5 years ago, I did so with no pay increase. However, I knew the extensive benefit package would make up for the salary.

My husband’s employer (not UI) fully funds our family’s health care plan, both medical and dental insurance. Therefore, I have elected to use our flex credits toward our child care expenses for our two young children and out of pocket medical costs. Without the flex credits, I stand to loose over $6,000 in flex credits. At my current salary of just under $40,000, this equates to a 15% pay cut for me if flex credits are no longer provided.

As with other UI employees, I imagine many of us may soon be looking for higher paying jobs outside of the University. I have seen many job openings here in the Iowa City area that I would be qualified for that pay significantly more than what I currently make. In the past, I have never felt the desire to apply for these positions since the UI benefit system is so good. Perhaps now is the time I will be forced to rethink my career with the UI…

My second concern is for the UI departments who cannot afford to offer raises to offset the flex benefit losses some employees are facing. I don’t know of any University department that could afford to raise salaries by 15% in order to keep their valuable employees happy. In my department, we barely can afford a 2-3% annual salary increase most years. Without adequate compensation (either as a salary or flex credits), many employees may consider alternative employment situations.

Name withheld by request
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This proposal has brought a lot of anxiety to me and my family. I just recently found out that I am pregnant with our second child (due after the first of the year when these changes are supposed to be implemented). With day care costs already being nearly $12,000/year for one child — I don’t know where I am going to be able to find the resources to cover day care costs for two children without the help of my dependant care monies. When we were planning the expansion of our family, we took this money into consideration. I am considering looking for another job or possibly becoming a stay at home mother. I enjoy my job tremendously and I am a HUGE advocate for the this University. I have received my degrees from this institution and always thought that the IOWA way was the only way — knowing that great work ethics and family commitments are highly valued and respected here. This is not the message that is going out with this proposal and I believe it will turn a lot of people away from this great place. I hope for our family’s sake and many others that this can be resolved without the HUGE loss of “salaries” that people like me depend on!

Name withheld by request
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When I think about how this change will impact my family it is quite significant. I will lose about 6000$ a year in take home pay. I have 3 small children with only one in school and paid $18,000 last year in childcare. I already pride myself in being frugal but I am just not sure how my family can take such a large loss. Having only 6 months to prepare for such a large financial loss is just devastating to my family. Last year my husband decided to change jobs and take a pay cut at an employer other than the University. We knew that the first year or two would be rough but thought that considering we were frugal we could try to make ends meet for the next few years. But now with the pay cut I am very worried. This money is something that has been promised to me, and I have always prided myself in being a planner, and planning for the needs of my family. But this significant of a paycut, is truly financially devastating to my family.

Name withheld by request
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My wife and I both were raised and educated here in Iowa, and graduated from the University of Iowa in the Seventies. After graduation we both remained in Iowa and pursued gainful employment, during this time we were married and decided to return to the University to receive our Graduate degrees probably due in part to the economic down turn of the Eighties. We both became employed by the University as P&S employees (now over twenty years of service each). It was during these years that we also began our family, and set out to own a home, educate our children, and be productive/caring citizens of our community, like all of you we too were in pursuit of the “American dream”. During those early years we used our flex benefits to help off set the cost of daycare/preschool which at that time was over $11,000.00 per year for our two children. This benefit enabled both my wife and I to remain employed and feel comfortable that our children were being cared for in a safe and loving environment during our absence, otherwise one of us would have become a stay at home parent, which is great, however that is not what we chose. My sympathies to those young parents who are facing or will be facing these decisions in the very real future, as I am sure the cost of child care has increased. Is it fair and equitable to force one parent to leave their employment to provide at home dependent care? Is it fair to make a family choose which spouse will be able to continue their career, and which one will have to place theirs on hold? How does this contribute to “sustainability”, “diversity”, “shared governance”, and keeping Iowa’s young people in Iowa? I thank my God every day that my wife, myself and our children are in good health and that we have medical/health care that is the best in the area. Currently we use our flex benefits to offset our health/dental/disability and life insurance deductions/premiums, however the “extra” is quickly used up for co-pays to our Dentist and Orthodontist as the $1500.00 per person deductible does not cover the cost of braces/orthodontic appliances, and to our Optometrist, as we all have prescription/corrective lenses. Yes, the generic drug program is a start in reducing costs but if your physician prescribes medication that isn’t available as a generic or you are on a long term medication (high blood pressure, diabetes, attention-deficit disorder, or a host of other conditions/disabilities) then those additional costs are out of pocket too, and so our flex credits are used up. As both my wife and I are employees of the University and thus receive flex credits, our total employment package (salary/benefits) will be reduced by 5 - 7% from our current salary/benefits and this factors in FY2009 pay increases. Is this the way to reward/sustain long term employees? Is this how we are to treat our co-workers, neighbors, friends? When did the University of Iowa stop being “family friendly” ,”inclusive”, and “equitable”?

Name withheld by request
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My husband and I have double spouse credits. I understand that, in some ways, the university has an unusual system. In another institution, I would simply forfeit the money normally used for paying for health insurance if I opted out of being insured. Here I can take that money and spend it (only on childcare and health though). This is a wonderful benefit. I have actually come to believe the new proposal is not inherently unfair. It does address inequities.

Although I sympathize with the university’s desire for equity and accept the seeming inevitability of the university ultimately changing the benefits structure, I still believe the process so far has been greatly flawed. These are extremely drastic changes for many, many university families. This is a large minority of the 11,000 employees the proposed plan will affect. In my opinion, the characterization by the administration that this will be detrimental to only a small percentage of employees is a miscalculation on their part.

Here’s my family’s situation. My husband and I will be out $7070 in flex credits which are currently allocated to spending accounts and the miscellaneous benefits that will not be provided for under the new plan. Under the new plan, we will receive $2160 in general credits for a net loss of $4910. Our combined yearly salary is $87,000 (The value of our combined salaries + retirement contributions + flex credits is $115,000.) This proposed plan will effectively cut our income by 4 to 6% (depending on how you calculate it). We have two children in fulltime daycare that costs us $16,000 per year. Other large expenses for us are my student loan, our car loan, and our mortgage. Financially, we are very fortunate to be in the position we are in as we are able to go on trips to see family on the east coast and to put money into savings. We could financially cope with the reduction in compensation but, until our kids are out of daycare, the changes would drastically reduce or eliminate our savings and travel money.

Iowa is not our home. My husband and I originally came here 6 years ago for my job. If it weren’t for the retirement and other benefits, we would have moved back to the east coast by now. Even now, with the good situation we have, I constantly speculate about leaving our jobs and moving home to be with our long-time friends and extended families. Some may think travel is a luxury, but if we can no longer afford to visit them, it could very well drive us to leave Iowa. I think ultimately, though, even if this proposal passes, the retirement benefits may keep us here. I am starting to get paranoid, however, that the FRIC and human resources will propose a drastic change to the retirement benefit system too…

The university administration needs to find a way to lessen the impact these drastic changes will have on their employees. Perhaps, they need to phase in changes over several years. Additionally, as many others have said, many employees choose to work here due to the understanding that this money was available to them. For retention sake, employees should be compensated somehow because university salaries are not comparable to the private sector. Another alternative is to grandfather current employees in to some type of intermediate plan, perhaps one which provides more general credits.

Christine Etler
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I have worked at the UIHC for 5 years. I had Iefted my job of 10 years in cedar rapids, because of the benefits UIHC can offer. The health spending account is what seperates you from the rest of the hospitals. There are many nurses including myself that are willing to drive many miles and hours away from their homes to come to work at UIHC. Now with us losing 5,000- 8,000 dollars a year and the rising price of gas, I will have to consider going back to employement in Cedar Rapids. It will be difficult for you to maintain current nurses and hire current nurses without this benefit.
I have three children and another one on the way. My two oldest boys have learning and behavior disabilties which our insurance doesn’t cover special treatments for them which I use all of my flex credits for towards learning tools, tutoring, medicine, eye therapy, glasses and other medical costs. My children would loose these necessities without the health spending account. Please reconsider this action.

Name withheld by request
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“Changing Medicine, Changing Lives”
You bet your sweet donkey it will!
We don’t have enough staff the way it is. Now it is proposed to cut our benefits. How is this going to help recruitment and retention of staff? The nurses of Iowa are already the lowest paid in the country. Now they propose to take more money out of our pockets! What’s next?

Name withheld by request

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I am a full time employee that requires hearing aids to remain in my position as a staff nurse. I depend on this flex benefit to help me purchase my hearing aids. I am providing health coverage for my entire family and will be severe taxed to provide the coverage and still purchase my durable medical goods without this all important Flex benefit.

John Eivins, RN, A.S.C.
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If I was working in my profession outside of the University, my pay would typically be much higher per hour than the U can afford to pay, and because I work half time, flex benefits make up a larger percentage of my income than those working full time. But in the seven years I’ve been working here in patient care, I’ve been able to justify the difference because the flex dollars made up for the low pay. For me, the loss of flex money could make as much as a 25% reduction in my pay per hour. While I love my job and am good at it, I could easily go and make far more in the private sector, a goal I may need to pursue if this goes into effect.

The unfortunate part for the university is that in my field it’s hard to get new grads to step in for the pay that is offered for my position. Now without the flex dollars added into the equation, it may be nearly impossible to get a competent replacement. The people who will suffer the most will be our consumers, the patients. I don’t really think that’s the direction in which we want our health care areas to move.

Name withheld by request
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I have worked for the university for 14 years and my wife has worked here for 9 years. We have a child that attends daycare. As many have stated in this forum, we have benefited from the flex benefits package that is offered. We both work for substantially less than the private sector pays for similar work. Benefits have been key in deciding whether to stay here or go elsewhere. With the proposed changes, we will lose about $5300/yr. As I mentioned, I have worked here 14 years, I am barley above the first pay quartile. With a reduction of 5300/yr, I might as well start over. The money in the flex pool was seen as an earned benefit. My wife and both contribute to the operation of the university and expect to have salary and benefits that recognize that contribution.

We have no objection to a “re-distribution of the pie” if it is truly needed. However, it must be realized that benefits have value. The distribution of benefits should not be based on your spouse’s benefits or spouse’s employer. The flex benefit program is truly a model of how things should be done. If your family works more, they earn more. It allows for flexibility and for a higher quality of family life. Without the flex dollars, I will face questions like: Should I take my child to the Emergency Room ($50.00 co-pay) or wait until I can get an appointment at the clinic? Should I buy prescription glasses or keep using last years? Can I forego a prescription? Daycare will become burdensome.

I realize that single people face these issues and have to pay out of pocket. I truly empathize, but that does not make it right to take from someone else who has earned it. I cannot make this point anymore clearly, My spouse and I work for the university, we both earn salary and benefits. We make sacrifices every day, this is one we should not have face.

The message of the proposal is clear, if you and your spouse work at the university, you are not as valuable as someone whose spouse does not work here. If you can receive benefits from another source, don’t expect them from the university. I implore the administration, please show us that you value us.

Name withheld by request
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My husband and I are a dual employed couple. We joined the University two years ago, turning down 3 other competing offers. The health benefits plan was a major factor in our decision. We would be impacted in a profound way by the changes proposed by FRIC. Since we have two children with health concerns, we regularly pay out of pocket for hospitalizations that exceed the plan currently in place. The proposed changes would really hurt!

Name withheld by request
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My husband and I are both employed by UI, and we have worked here for nearly six years. Like many others, the university was not the highest offer for salary, but the benefits were extremely attractive and more than made up for a non-competitive salary. The benefits were also highly touted by administrators trying to recruit us.

I’ve had a difficult time getting my head around the numerous ways these changes will affect my family, and so many other families within the UI community. My husband and I have a young son nearing a year old, who will soon begin day care. We recently found out that I am pregnant again, and my child is due right before these benefit changes will be implemented. The prospect of having two kids in daycare and essentially a ten percent salary reduction is quite daunting….and it IS a salary reduction. Flex credit benefits are clearly stated in our annual salary letter as part of our compensation. We work in a department whose pay raises barely cover cost of living increases, so this drastic a reduction will surely cause financial distress for a long time. With a University average increase of 4.5%, many people find themselves in identical situations. Since April 2007 the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen 3.9%.

In regards to pregnancy, the actual out-of-pocket costs for labor and delivery alone for someone on UI Choice is around $1,000…and flex credits will cover that. Flex credits also cover nursing supplies, such as breast pumps and lactation supplies, which allowed me to continue providing my son breast milk even after I was back at work full time. As research indicates, and health care providers constantly preach, breast milk-fed infants have lower rates of ear infections, colds, and other infants, thus reducing health care costs for the University.

Also, Judy Polumbaum’s guest opinion in the Press Citizen makes reference to people spending credits on “nonessentials” such as eyeglasses and hypoallergenic pillows. As someone with glasses and severe allergies and asthma, I take issue to this. Without the use of many hypoallergenic items in our house, I would have many, many more frequent visits to the hospital and doctor’s office. And once again, more hospital visits and office visits means more healthcare costs for the University. On top of that, my copays alone for allergy and asthma meds are nearly $100/month. Add to that medication for my young son, who has very severe food allergies, and our monthly expenditures are much more. I am truly glad Professor Polumbaum enjoys such a healthy life that she has no need for flex credits, but as someone with regular expenditures, I do depend on those additional benefits. And according to her, I am a “robber” and a “screamer.”

Finally, I cannot understand why are taking specific aim at dual spouses. Why should we be penalized because we work for the same employer? I make my benefits, and he makes his, just as would happen if we work for different employers. The fact that we are able to combine them happens to be very advantageous, and I am VERY grateful for the benefit.

The system has its flaws, and should be reviewed and revised, but in a way that respects and reflects ALL parties involved. Are there inequities? Of course. Are there people who take advantage of the system? Yes. Are there those who use their benefits with care? Yes again. But for the University to so callously disregard those who were drawn to UI because of these benefits will burn many bridges, and surely hurt them in future recruitment and retention efforts. The UI community is filled with employees who are hard working, caring, and concerned about getting this right—even if it means some sort of decrease in benefits. But we would like to be involved in a fair and equitable process that listens, rather than merely hears, our concerns, and responds accordingly.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Orhon
Division of Performing Arts
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My husband and I both work at the university and we have a one-year old child. Both of us earn under $50K (and I work time to help defer childcare costs). Our child care costs currently amount to about $10,000/year, of which we use $5000 a year from our dependent care account. If these changes occur, it is possible that I might have to quit my job entirely. And certainly I would have to do this if we choose to have a second child. This would be a shame, as I am on a career path and have invested in an advanced degree to get to this point, and I hope to go back to full-time in a year or two.

I also have chronic pain issues and use my med flex money to pay for alternative and complementary medicine treatments (acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic). If these changes are made, I will not be able to get the treatments I need to be able to productive in my daily life.

I don’t deny that there may need to be changes to the health care benefits package. However, I take offense at the unfairness of hitting dual-spouse employees the hardest. It sends the message that the university places less value on us as employees. Less value on having families. I found the same thing happened when I was told that I would have to share my FMLA maternity leave with my husband since we both worked at the U. If only I had worked at the U, I would have gotten a full 12 weeks leave, but since we both worked here we were forced to share the 12 weeks. It’s just another way that the university seems to punish dual-spouse employees. It makes absolutely no sense and sends a message of anti-family.

Name withheld by request
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I am employed with the College of Public health and I am surrounded with a lot of very hard working people from the support staff all the way up to the Dean. I know this because working in the IT department we answer calls and emails from them on the weekends and very late during the week as well. If someone sends the group a message at almost any time they will receive an answer. We do this because the college is a team, students, staff and faculty are working to bring funding in from grants, trying to get ready to teach students or both. Without the grants or the students we of course would not be needed.

We have research staff with PhDs making less than $40,000 and bringing money in not only to the college but to the university as well. I know this because my wife, mother of my 6 week old son, is one of them. Then you have the faculty that have to bring in half of their own salary from the grants and teach on top of it.

After the HR session at Oakdale Hall I felt that the FRIC team was under a lot of pressure to come up with a very important plan with a team that should have been bigger and given more time to devote to this task since most of them still had full time duties that they needed to deal with as well.

I say this because the committee

1) Did not look at the salaries of those being affected

2) Did not know that there were nurses not in the union who would be affected by this that are the lowest paid nurses in the nation.

3) Seemed to have guessed at numbers of retention

4) Appeared to think that people who now do not take UI insurance, saving the university thousands of dollars in claims, would be happy with only getting $200 a month opposed to the $900 a month they are currently getting knowing that they are helping the common good of the university.

5) Made statements like people have been expecting cuts like this for 20 years so we thought we should hurry up and do it and this only effects 5% of the community.

At the session I felt sorry for Mary Greer who you could tell by her voice that she understood and felt the pain of the situation.

Then there was Sheldon Kurtz who obviously has a lot of pressure to come up with a plan for the university. When the questions were being asked he responded by asking those present if they had a better idea… Telling this to people who only found out about the changes 2 weeks ago and never given the hope that their ideas would be heard. Mr. Kurtz made the statement that he did not feel like this was a pay cut. He also has been quoted saying that people with double spouse credit got twice the benefits as single employees when employees with a spouse receive 1.6 times the benefits rate provided to single employees. In my opinion, Sheldon Kurtz was disrespectful, inconsistent with other reports and given his ~$200,000 salary from the University he has lost touch with reality of those making one fifth of his salary.

To me the university is telling these hard working people most of them making less than $50K, thank you for bringing in all the funding, but we are going to cut yours.

In my opinion, at this point in the game we need people involved who will try to bring the university together as a team and not divide us with disrespect, inconsistencies and are in touch with reality. If these feelings are mutual with the majority then Sheldon Kurtz needs to apologize and be diplomatic or step down.

Thank you,

Darryl Dodd
Systems Administration/Systems Programming II
College of Public Health
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My family and I moved here eight years ago so that I could take a position with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Previously I was working at in a position I truly enjoyed, and had a fair salary and benefits package. Moving to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics required I take a pay cut, but in considering the fringe and professional growth benefits available to me through UI, my husband and I decided it was worth the cut in pay. We initially used my flex benefits to pay for our family’s health insurance since at that time, my flex benefits allowed the UI to pay for my entire family insurance monthly premiums. As the costs rose and we were required to pay more out-of-pocket than what was available in my flex benefits, my husband and I decided we would use his company’s benefits to purchase our healthcare coverage, and we would use the UI flex benefits to pay for our dependent care and other medical expenses, and to utilize the opportunity for disability and further life insurance coverage. The flex benefits have allowed us to pay for day care and health and dental costs not covered by insurance. We haven’t had exceptional dependent, medical or dental requirements, yet each year we exhaust all of my pre-tax dollars from flex benefits, and in addition we pay out of our own pockets to cover above and beyond costs of dependent and health care costs. With this pending cut in our flex benefits, my family is set to have a $5000+ loss in income, just as many others have expressed. In addition, we will incur further expenses in our family budget as I will need to pursue further disability coverage out of pocket, and reduce or re-asses our life insurance coverage (given that more adults will incur a disability vs. death prior to the age of 60, I believe it imperative that adults obtain the maximum amount of disability coverage allowed by law—and a cut in this coverage by UI saddens me!). My salary has not kept up with the current state and national market trends in my professional position, however the dollars offered to my family and me through flex benefits has kept me financially able to continue working here, and I am very happy and proud to work for the University of Iowa, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and my department!

I realize the spiraling healthcare and insurance costs effect us all, however I believe it is unfair to require families like mine to incur such a large percentage of the cut in benefits. I support the request to allow time for reconsideration, evaluation, and personal planning for changes of UI’s flex benefits.

Kim Hawkins
Department of Rehabilitation Therapies
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I began working at the University about 4 years ago. When I accepted the job here not only did I take a substantial pay cut, I also added 30 miles, one way, to my trip to work. However, taking into account the value of the benefits here, I found that it was still a profitable move for me to make.

Since starting here, our family has grown (we now have 2 children) and it was to the point where between gas and daycare, I was actually paying money to come to work. My husband’s job had since started providing insurance benefits for their families so we took on his insurance and I told everyone in my department I was planning to quit within the next few months. After learning how the flex benefit system worked I recalculated our expenses and found that by not taking on the insurance here, and using the flex benefits that were available, it would allow me to continue with my job and fulfill my responsibilities as an employee. If the proposed benefit changes go through, we will have to accept the fact that it is no longer beneficial for me to continue my position here.

My job at the University is wonderful; I have great hours, a great department and wonderful people whom I work with everyday. I have gained great knowledge and experience working here, as well as being given opportunities that would not have been available elsewhere. My first choice would be to remain an employee and be a continued example of how the University takes pride in employing qualified, dedicated workers and supports them and their families. Unfortunately, if these changes occur as stated by the FRIC, I will not have this option due to financial upset.

I understand that changes may need to be made to the current system; however, I would like to see changes that won’t make such an impact on families in this and similar situations.

Name withheld by request
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I recently made a career change and entered the field of Nursing. Upon graduation I interviewed at three hospitals in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area. The reason I chose the University of Iowa Hospitals was largely due to the Flex Benefits program. I was told that these benefits are considered to be part of my salary and am reminded of this each month when I view my paycheck and see where the Flex dollars are added to my adjusted “salary”.

My story is not unlike the many I have read prior to writing this post. My wife and I carry our insurance through her employer as it is more cost effective. This allows us to utilize my flex dollars to cover the non-covered expenses. It has helped to pay for braces for our four teenage children, medications, glasses/contacts and office visit co-pays. I only wish I had this benefit when the children required day care!

If the current proposal passes and the Flex program as we know it endures a tremendous change, it equates to me as nothing more than a significant pay cut. I will be reminded of this each time I review my paycheck and see where the Flex dollars are no longer added in. This may encourage me to strongly re-consider my other employment options. With the already ranked very low nursing payroll in the country, take away the Flex and hourly wage becomes very near equal to other hospitals in the area. I say this knowing that there are others who share these feelings. In a system where nursing staff is already compromised, I don’t feel that a pay cut will help to resolve that problem.

Jason Thomas RN
CVICU
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I am a full-time P&S employee, a current graduate student at the UI, and a mother of 3 children (7, 2, 8 weeks). I entered college at the UI in 1994 and started working here in 1999 after obtaining my bachelors degree. I started as a Merit Sec II, worked my way to a Program Associate position, and am working on my Master’s degree at the UI. Throughout many life changing events (college, graduation, marriage, childbirth x 3, graduate school) I have spent the last 14 years of my life dedicated to The University of Iowa. I love my job at the UI, I love the mission of the UI, and I love the work environment here which I had always considered very supportive of the challenges I face as a career wife, mother and student. And despite jobs outside the university boasting much higher salaries, I had hoped to continue working for this great institution for many years to come — even through retirement if fate would allow…until now.

With the proposed changes to the benefit structure, I am left to reconsider my future at The University of Iowa. My husband is a laborer and we receive health insurance through his employer. I rely on my flex benefits mainly to help cover his health plan deductibles ($900 annual family deductible) and co-pays (generally 20%) for our family of 5, and childcare expenses for our 3 children which is in excess of $1000 per month. Each year when I receive my salary letter, I consider how I can utilize these flex credits to cover our family expenses, given the modest income generated from my base salary. Without these credits, it would be impossible for me to afford to continue working at the UI. My salary alone would not be able to support my family of 5. It is currently a challenge to make ends meet each month, and reducing my spending account reimbursements would be financially devastating to our family. The thought of that becoming a possibility in a mere 7 months is terrifying. The thought of having to find a new job, and possibly take my children out of the schools and community that they were born in, the town my husband and I met in and went to college in and got married in and bought our first house in, is terrifying. The proposed changes to the benefit structure would effectively remove a substantial portion of the UI workforce very rapidly, along with the institutional knowledge they possess, as I am sure I would not be the only employee who would be unable to continue employment at the UI. You would be damaging the support structure of The University of Iowa and the Iowa City economy as a whole, as families may be left with the only choice but to relocate. The UI would no longer be a family-friendly place of employment. The total effects of that won’t be fully understood for many years to come, after the damage has been done.

I don’t think I would ever be able to cheer “GO HAWKS” with the devotion I do now.

Please reconsider this proposal.

Name withheld by request
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