A few Penn State professors are protesting a new policy requiring employees to complete health risk assessments, showing the tensions that penalty-driven wellness plans can bring.
Facing more than 10 percent increases in healthcare costs for about 17,000 covered employees and another 23,000 family members, Pennsylvania State University officials decided to adopt a new wellness program requiring covered employees to complete a physical exam and online health risk assessment, or otherwise face a $100 per month premium surcharge.
The new policy, announced in late July and slated to go into effect in 2014, prompted a number of Penn State faculty to speak out in opposition, eventually getting the attention of media such as the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio.
Matthew Woessner, an associate professor of political science at Penn State's Harrisburg campus, raised privacy concerns over the WebMD-administered online assessment, and objected to biometric screenings that the insurer Highmark is slated to offer onsite with mobile medical clinics.
In a blog and local newspapers, Woessner called for university employees to enter "nonsense" data into the online assessment as a form of protest.
On the website of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Woessner wrote that instead of third party-conducted biometric screenings of blood pressure or blood sugar, "Penn State employees might want to consider asking their doctor for a note attesting to the fact that they have undergone all of the required screenings, but will not report the results on the certification form."
Penn State leaders have defended the health risk assessment policy as part of a plan to address the university's healthcare costs, joining an estimated 15 percent of American employers requiring their workers to complete health risk assessments or physical exams as a condition of enrolling in a health plan.
With 24 campuses across Pennsylvania, Penn State is facing declining funding from the state government and potentially tectonic changes in the higher education economy, with online education threatening the traditional university business model.
"We are implementing a significant set of changes that will help us turn the tide on unmanageable increases in healthcare costs for our faculty and staff," Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a media release.
"Higher education is at the crossroads with respect to our responsibilities for greater cost control, and now is the time for decisive action. I have challenged our leadership in human resources to hold annual healthcare cost increases to the Consumer Price Index plus 2 percent, a goal that will help us to sustain the existing quality of employee health care options while easing pressures on tuition increases that face our students and their families."
Penn State's healthcare costs, though a Highmark-administered self-funded plan, are projected at $217 million this year, about five percent of the institution's $4.4 billion operating budget.
Penn State also recently adopted a $75 per month surcharge for covered employees and spouses who smoke or use tobacco products, and a $100 per month surcharge for employees' spouses who enroll in Penn State's health plan when they're offered coverage by an employer.