University Times

While long- and short-term disability plans compensate employees for lost pay, they don't cover costs of nursing home or in-home care — which average $46,000 and $12,000 per year, respectively, according to the Health Insurance Association of America.

Nearly half of Americans receiving long-term care are under the age of 65, researchers have found.

Beginning in July, faculty and staff here should gain the option of buying long-term care insurance at group rates through Pitt's agreement with Unum Life Insurance Co. of America.

The Pitt Human Resources office mailed plan details to staff and faculty this week. In addition, Unum representatives will describe the plan, and field employees' questions, during a series of Pittsburgh campus enrollment sessions. See advertisement on page 8 for the schedule of sessions. Regional campus sessions will be announced soon.

Some 9,500 Pitt employees (full-time and tenured part-time faculty, and regular full-time staff and part-time staff working a minimum of 18.75 hours per week) are considered to be "guarantee issue" employees, meaning they would automatically be accepted into the group long-term care insurance plan if they enrolled by April 30. These people would not have to fill out a medical questionnaire.

After April 30, current "guarantee issue" employees would have to complete medical questionnaires and might not be accepted into the plan.

Coverage under Pitt's group plan would begin July 1, but only if at least 5 percent of "guarantee issue" employees sign up for the plan by the April 30 deadline.

Besides "guarantee issue" employees, the following people also could apply for Pitt group long-term care insurance — but they would have to complete a medical questionnaire and, in some cases, a face-to-face assessment might be required (acceptance into the plan would not be guaranteed for these applicants):

* Pitt retirees.

* Non-tenured part-time faculty and regular part-time staff working fewer than 18.75 hours per week.

* Staff/faculty members' spouses, adult children, siblings, parents (including in-laws) and grandparents (including a spouse's grandparents) ages 18 to 80.

"If you left the University for another job, or if you retired, you could still retain your coverage at the Pitt group rate," said James Edgerton, assistant vice chancellor for Human Resources.

In the future, new staff and faculty hired in the "guarantee issue" category would be automatically accepted into the plan if they enrolled within 60 days of their hiring dates, he said.

The individual cost for Pitt long-term care insurance would depend on the participant's age and the options chosen. The younger a person is when the insurance is purchased, the lower the cost.

For example, a 35-year-old buying basic coverage of $1,000 per month for a maximum of three years in a nursing home would pay $1.50 per month. A 70-year-old buying the same coverage would pay $21.80 per month.

The maximum coverage available would be for $6,000 per month (this amount would increase over the years through periodic inflation adjustments) for total home care as well as nursing home care, for an unlimited period.

Once an employee or family member buys into the plan, his or her rate is locked in. Rates will not go up as participants age.

Staff and faculty can enroll in the plan, or calculate their monthly premiums, by logging on at: www.unumprovident.com/enroll/upitt.

(The web site was expected to be operational by today, March 7.) Staff and faculty with questions about the long-term care plan also can call UnumProvident at 800-227-4165.

Like the University's current dental and vision plans, the long-term care plan would be employee-paid. It would cost Pitt nothing except for administrative expenses.

Pitt chose Unum as its long-term care insurer after two years of shopping around and negotiating, said Edgerton.

An advisory group of staff and faculty worked with Human Resources throughout the process and endorsed the choice of Unum.

One advantage of Unum's long-term care plan is that it pays participants a flat amount each month, instead of reimbursing participants for submitted invoices, Edgerton pointed out.

Also, Unum has "a strong local presence" with customer services offices in Pittsburgh, Edgerton said.

— Bruce Steele