More Fool Me

I haven't posted in a while, partly because I've begun working on myown Happiness Project, and partly because I haven't wanted to think much about the coming school year and what it's going to mean for me in terms of my morale.

Well, I checked a post today put up by a UW-Madison grad student on one of the Facebook message boards I belong to. I'm going to post the announcement from 10 days ago (which I hadn't read until today because I thought I knew what was in it--such a trusting fool) in its entirety. The parts that directly affect my family are highlighted.

Changes Coming to State Group Health Insurance

And Union-Related Deductions

July 19, 2011

A number of changes to the Wisconsin Retirement System, the state health insurance program and unionrelated deductions are taking effect due to the implementation of Wisconsin Act 10 (2011 Budget Repair

Bill) and Wisconsin Act 32 (Biennial Budget for 2011-2013). In addition to this summary of changes to the

State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance program, please see the Impact of Act 10 on UW System

Employee Benefits Frequently Asked Questions.

Changes to Health Insurance Program

Employee Premium Contributions

Effective with the biweekly payroll ending August 13 (pay date of August 25) and monthly payroll ending

August 31 (pay date of September 1):

 Health insurance premiums will increase as specified in WI Act 10 as amended by WI Act 32 (see below for new premium contributions).

 Employees working less than 50% of full-time will continue to pay the less-than-half-time rates.

 LTEs must have at least two concurrent appointments to be eligible for the full employer premium

contributions.

New Employee Health Insurance

Monthly Premium Contributions for WRS-Participants

Single Family

Tier 1 (all plans, except the Standard Plan) $84 $208

Tier 2 (Standard Plan – required to work outside WI) $122 $307

Tier 3 (Standard Plan – work in WI) $226 $567

Less-than-half –time rates 50% of premium

New Employee Health Insurance

Monthly Premium Contributions for

Graduate Assistants, Post Docs and Short-Term Academic

Single Family

Tier 1 (all plans, except the Standard Plan) $42 $104

Tier 2 (Standard Plan – required to work outside WI) $61 $153.50

Tier 3 (Standard Plan – work in WI) $113 $283.50

Special Opportunity to Cancel or Change Level of Coverage

Treasury regulations governing IRS Code Section 125 restricts mid-year changes to health insurance coverage for employees who pay their premium contribution on a pre-tax basis. However, a significant cost change is a circumstance that allows for mid-year changes. Due to the increase in the employee’s premium cost, you may cancel your coverage entirely or change from family to single coverage provided a Health Application/Change Form is submitted to your payroll and benefits office within 30 days of the date of the first paycheck from which the increased premium is deducted.

Coverage changes will be effective on the later of the end of the month on or following your employer’s receipt of the application to cancel coverage or the end of the month after the date of the premium increase.

For more specific details, please see the Detailed FAQ on Impact of Act 10 and Act 32, questions 8 – 14.

Uniform Benefits

Section 9115 of WI Act 10 requires that the Group Insurance Board (GIB) design health care coverage plans for the 2012 calendar year that, after adjusting for inflation, reduces the average premium cost of tier 1 plans by at least 5% from the cost of the plan during the 2011 calendar year.

The GIB considered various options of achieving the cost reduction, such as the implementation of office visit and inpatient copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, adjusting the prescription drug benefit and eliminating the optional dental benefits offered by most plans.

After due deliberation, the GIB approved the following changes to Uniform Benefits, effective January 1,2012, resulting from WI Act 10 implementation:

 Apply coinsurance to medical services. Benefits will be payable at 90% up to an annual outof-pocket maximum of $500 for an individual/$1,000 for a family.

 Coinsurance is based on a set percentage of the cost. For example, if the discounted medical charges are $200, the member will be responsible for $20, which is 10% of the charge.

 Once a member has paid $500 in coinsurance for an individual, or $1000 for family coverage, in a calendar year, the 10% coinsurance will not be applied for the remainder of the year. The $1000 out-of-pocket maximum for families is cumulative, so once any combination of family members has paid $1000 in coinsurance, the coinsurance ends for the rest of that calendar year. It is not required that two family members each incur $500 in coinsurance in order to satisfy the $1000 coinsurance requirement.

 Preventive care, such as physicals and well-baby care, is not subject to coinsurance.
Examples of preventive care will be provided by the Department of Employee Trust Funds this fall.

 Coinsurance will be applied to the discounted fee negotiated by the plan and the
provider (as opposed the actual amount charged).

 Members will be billed for the coinsurance. Payment will not be due at the time of service.

 Increase the emergency room copayment from $60 per occurrence to $75 (waived if  admitted). This does not get applied to the out-of-pocket maximum.

 If eligible to participate in the Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA) program, out-of-pocket costs for coinsurance and copays are eligible for reimbursement under the ERA
Medical Expense Reimbursement Account.

Standard Plan

Act 10 does not apply to the Standard Plan; however, the GIB also chose to modify the Standard Health Plan for the 2012 calendar year. The GIB’s intent was to enact a similar benefit cut and modernize the Standard Plan to facilitate the long-term sustainability of the program. The GIB approved the following changes to the Standard Plan, effective January 1, 2012:

 In network:

 Deductible will increase from $100 for an individual/$200 for a family to $200 for
an individual/$400 for a family.

 Apply coinsurance to medical services. Benefits will be payable at 90% up to an
annual out-of-pocket maximum of $800 for an individual/$1,600 for a family.

 Coinsurance is based on a set percentage of the cost. For example, if the
discounted medical charges are $200, the member will be responsible for $20,
which is 10% of the charge.

 Once a member has paid $800 in coinsurance for an individual, or $1,600 for a
family, in a calendar year, the 10% coinsurance will not be applied for the remainder of the year. The $1,600 out-of-pocket maximum for families is cumulative, so once any combination of family members has paid $1,600 in coinsurance, the coinsurance ends for the rest of that calendar year. It is not required that two family members each incur $800 in coinsurance in order to satisfy the $1,6000 coinsurance requirement.

 This does not apply to preventive care, such as physicals and well-baby care.

 Coinsurance will be applied to the discounted fee negotiated by the plan and the
provider (as opposed the actual amount charged).

 Members will be billed for the coinsurance. It will not be due at the time of service.

 Out of network:

 Deductible will remain $500 per individual and $1,000 per family.

 The annual out-of-pocket maximum will remain $2,000 per individual and $4,000
per family.

 Coinsurance will change from 80/20 to 70/30. Coinsurance is based on a set
percentage of the cost. For example, if the discounted medical charges are $200,
the member will be responsible for $60 for coinsurance, which is 30% of the
charge. Currently with the 20% coinsurance, the member is responsible for $40 of
a $200 charge.

 Emergency Room Copayment

 Add an emergency room copayment of $75 per occurrence (waived if admitted).

This does not get applied to the out-of-pocket maximum. It applies to emergency
room services received in network or out of network.

 If eligible to participate in the Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA) program, out-of-pocket costs for coinsurance and copays are eligible for reimbursement under the ERA

Medical Expense Reimbursement Account.4

Prescription Drug Benefits

There will be no changes to the prescription drug program for 2012. The annual out-of-pocket maximum of $410 for an individual or $820 for a family will remain and is separate from the out-of-pocket maximum for medical services.

Employee Eligibility

Most employees hired on or after July 1, 2011 will need to work 2/3 of full-time to be eligible for health insurance. Any service with a WRS-employer prior to July 1, 2011 will be sufficient for the employee to be eligible under the old eligibility rules, which required that the employee work 1/3 of full-time. This applies even if the prior position was not eligible for participation in the WRS.

 WRS-eligible classified employees will need to work 2/3 of full-time to be eligible to enroll. This is equivalent to working 1200 hours per year, which is 58% of full-time.

 Faculty, academic staff and limited employees who work 9 months per year, will need to work at least 880 hours in a year, which is 56% of full-time.

 Faculty, academic staff and limited employees who work 12 months per year, will need to work at least 880 hours in a year, which is 42% of full-time.

 Eligibility for graduate assistants, post-docs and limited employees is not changing.

Adult Dependent Child Eligibility

Beginning January 1, 2012, adult children will be eligible to be covered under a parent’s health plan only until the end of the month in which they turn age 26. In 2011, unmarried children remain eligible until the end of the month in which they turn age 27. The change to age 26 as the limiting age is consistent with federal law.

Termination of Coverage

For termination of employment that occurs on or after January 1, 2012, the employer contribution towards health insurance coverage will end on the last day of the month in which the employee terminates.

COBRA Continuation

For terminations of employment that occurs on or after January 1, 2012, former employees will be

permitted to continue their health insurance coverage for 18 months instead of the current 36-months.

Family members who lose eligibility for coverage will still be allowed to continue coverage for 36 months.

COBRA periods will be administered in accordance with federal law, which only requires 18 months of COBRA continuation for former employees.

This does not affect employees who are retiring with an immediate or lump sum annuity or have escrowed sick leave credits as they may still maintain coverage for life. 5

Union-Related Deductions

Effective with the biweekly payroll ending July 16 (pay date of July 28) and monthly payroll ending July 31

(pay date of August 1):

 Deductions for union-sponsored dental plans will cease. The unions are responsible for informing their members of their options to maintain the union-sponsored dental plans going forward.

 Employees will need to pay premium directly to the union (post-tax).

 If an employee chooses to cancel coverage under a union-sponsored dental plan, it does not constitute a qualifying event for enrolling in Dental Wisconsin or Anthem DentalBlue.

 There will be an open enrollment for Dental Wisconsin this fall for coverage effective on January 1, 2012. If the person has other dental coverage in force immediately prior to the effective date of the Dental Wisconsin coverage, the waiting periods will be waived. Proof of other coverage, such as an ID card, must accompany the application.

 It is not yet known if an open enrollment period will be offered this fall for employees
eligible to enroll in Anthem DentalBlue.

Questions?

Much more information will be provided as we get closer to the fall It’s Your Choice enrollment period. If you have questions that need response prior to that time, please contact your payroll/benefits office. In addition, ETF has posted an FAQ on their website (http://etf.wi.gov/).

So basically, in addition to my monthly premium going to $208 from $84, I can deduct another $1000 out of my already abysmally low salary to pay for my family's medical care. I can't even console myself with the knowledge that at least I'm in Tier 1 and I'm not getting fucked as hard as other people, because we're all pretty much fucked. Thank you, Republican assholes, douchebags, and fucktards. You have effectively fucked me and my fellow public employees out of huge chunk of our shitty salaries, and we will now be looking even harder for a job outside of this benighted goddamned state.

I had better benefits and pay when I worked in the private sector 10 years ago, but I chose the life of a public servant because I wanted to be a teacher. Always. Since I was a kid playing "School" in my bedroom with my younger sister.

I knew I would never be rich working as a teacher, even as a college professor. I just wanted to have a decent middle-class life. It's not happening. I ran up $70K in student loan debt to get the education that would enable me to get a TT position. I live in a rented house, my newest car is a 2007 with over 70K miles on it, my husband's car (2002) is starting to fall apart and we can't afford to fix it until I get paid again in October, and on and on and on. I can't take it anymore. My  salary is lower than a car mechanic's. My plumber makes more than I do, and I have 17 years of experience and two Master's degrees.

So I'm back to being heartsick and angry. I feel like a fool. So much for happiness.

Disgust and Despair

I can't bear it.

The Wisconsin State Supreme Court overturned (4-3) Judge Sumi's restraining order preventing the publication of the collective bargaining law. It will go into effect June 29th. I will make less money next year as a tenured professor than I did when I started on the tenure track. 

The Republicans are fielding fake Democratic candidates to confuse things for people voting in the July 12th recall elections. If you thought Chicago politics were dirty, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

I can't stand it. 

The state legislature is handing broadband control over to AT&T, which will cost schools millions of dollars they don't have--on top of the millions being cut from their budgets.


What I can't get over is that I have worked my entire adult life towards being a tenured college professor...and I feel as though I have failed somehow.

I thought becoming a professor would allow me to give my family a reasonably good middle-class life. Not so. 

We rent a 2 bedroom house for $550 a month (which is a steal, I know--we're lucky). The great thing is that it's out in the countryside--we have a garden, a deck, a huge yard--the not-so-great thing is that it was comfortable for three of us, but it's getting cramped now that Thing Two is a toddler (and a boy).


I am $70,000 in debt from my BA, MA, and MFA (most of it's from the MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago--probably not the smartest decision I ever made).


Thing One had a playdate with her best friend L. earlier this week. When we got to L.'s house, I cringed. The house is new (probably less than 8 years old), colonial, 3-car garage. We walked in and L and Thing One took each others' hands and ran up the staircase. I went into the kitchen (cherry cabinets, granite countertops), and gazed into the great room--two stories of windows looking into the wooded back yard. The sitter seemed nice, and I left.


I know that I have a better life than 90% of people in this world, but that doesn't seem to matter to my inner self.


I am jealous. I have house envy. Not that I want a new house, and certainly not one as big as L's house--I'd just spend half of my life cleaning it. I just want a house that's mine--where I can have a dog. Where each of the Things can have a bedroom. And I can have a room of my own for my books and papers and typewriters. 


This is what was supposed to happen: I was going to get tenure, get my piddly raise, and we would go get a construction loan to begin building our house--the 1800 sf farmhouse of my dreams--on the land we bought in the fall of 2004, six acres of former dairy farm with a huge shagbark hickory tree. We even have the plans already drawn up. Three bedrooms, a library, living room, eat-in kitchen, wrap-around front porch, 1.5 bathrooms, fireplace. We had done the math--we could afford to do it if we did a lot of the work ourselves (Hubby for most of it, but I can swing a hammer too). My dream house, a copy of which is pinned to the wall in my office, where I saw it every day for the last two semesters as I worked frantically for tenure.


And now the gorram plan is shot to hell, for a variety of reasons. 


One reason is that Hubby is in talks to take the job of his dreams in Chicago, about which I cannot write, other than to say that should it come to pass, it will mean that we will have to live separately for over a year, or I will have to leave my job. Since I cannot live without him--I do not want to live without him--I will need to go back to Chicago. 


I am not opposed to going back, not the way I was when we left in 2002. I do not know if I will teach again (certainly not at Columbia, special thanks to Garnett Kilberg-Cohen). I don't know what I would do. 

What I am doing is struggling with the idea of leaving my dream house...and all that it represents. My desire to give my children a better childhood than my own (which was on a hobby farm too, though with an alcoholic, rageaholic father). My longing for a place of my own, for chickens and dogs and horses to live on my farm. Maybe a lop-eared bunny or two.  It means giving up the security of guaranteed employment (though since comparatively speaking my pay is so abysmal it's starting to seem like not much of a sacrifice). It means leaving the beauty and peace of country life for the noise and dirt of the city--though the city has many good things to offer too, the best being a cosmopolitan atmosphere for my children, as opposed to the redneck, red-state area we live in now.


Hubby says we can live in the 'burbs, but I don't think I want that, either. It will mean a commute for one, probably both of us. The only 'burb I even like is Evanston, and I highly doubt we could afford to live there, though perhaps I could get adjunct work at Northwestern or Loyola...crap. I'm doing it again.


The other reason it's shot to hell is the political asshattery in this state means that I will make even less money this coming contract year than I did when I started. This is probably the most pathetic thing about it--and the thing that makes me the angriest. That I've worked so hard for so long, and will have even less to show for it (though still more than I did as an adjunct). I don't think we could build the house even if we were to stay in Wisconsin.

I am so tired. I can't do anything about my current situation except worry, and be angry and disgusted. It's exhausting.


So I think I am just going to try to be Zen. Accept the uncertainty I have never been able to tolerate (thanks, Adult Children of Alcoholics!). Trust (cf ACoA) that it will all work out. Conserve my energy and work on my novel over the summer. Go to New Orleans with Hubby in August and celebrate our 11+ years together.

If you have any advice, feel free to share it. I'm open.

Now for a nap, as Thing Two got me up at 4:45 am again.

Money Money Money

Always Sunny In the Rich Man's World...

OK. You'll just have to forgive the ABBA reference in today's post. I've been thinking a lot about money (struggling to make it through September, as I don't get paid until October 1 and we have to make it on Hubby's salary and whatever I managed to save through my 9-month contract).

I went to the grocery store yesterday, early (like 7 am) because we were out of creamer and milk. The headline greeting me on the Sunday edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?

$100,000 incomes common at MATC

I threw up a little bit. [MATC stands for Milwaukee Area Technical College, FYI.]

And reading the comments on the website just makes my head throb. Yes, I'd agree that it seems that some of the faculty are overpaid for what they do. I'd also agree that MATC's independent taxing authority is the reason that they can pay these people what they do. The UW System is dependent on two things: tuition and state allocation. State allocations are down, WAY down, from where they should be (I'm not going to get into it, but suffice to say that my campus' operating funds from the state constitute 24% of the overall budget).

What kills me is that most of the comments I could read (before I had to quit to lower my blood pressure) accuse ALL faculty of being over-paid, under-worked whiners who couldn't get a "real" job (read: in the corporate sector), which is frankly just so much BULLSHIT.

I have two Master's degrees (an MA in literature, and a terminal MFA in creative writing). I have 15 years of teaching experience. (FYI, I could not get a job teaching high school English in Wisconsin with these qualifications.)

I teach a 4/4 load over a 9-month contract, for which I am paid a grand total of $44,439, per my contract and the UW System Redbook. My salary also covers campus and departmental committee obligations, which in the past have added up to 15 hours to my average work week, which is approximately 45 hours long. I do not have a TA. I teach 12 hours a week; I have office hours, grading, and committees (including ones I do for the students' benefit, like the creative writing group). I will be the first person to admit that I make a living wage. Am I fairly paid compared to someone at the System level (who teaches 3/3 with similar committee work)? No. I work UNPAID over the summer so that I can keep my job (tenure-track).

I had a job in the corporate sector, making over $50K/year. I wasn't happy because I wasn't teaching, which is what makes me happy. I took a pay cut that I still have not made up because I would rather teach than work in corporate world. I work very hard to make my classes worthwhile and engaging--in fact, I work harder as a teacher than I ever did as a corporate monkey. For less money.

And Hubby wonders why I periodically chat up Steve, my friend in the State Department about job openings. I sometimes think about going back to my old boss to see if he'd have anything for me, except that I don't really want to go back to Chicago. I want to teach. I just want to be paid commensurate with my credentials, experience, and actual work done.

Too bad pay equity is about at the bottom of the list for the Wisconsin State Legislature (except for Glenn Grothman, who is a complete idiot for a variety of reasons). So in the meantime I will keep the light on for my students, who need me and my extremely dedicated, hardworking colleagues in every discipline. What would they do without us?

Hmmm....according to Glenn Grothman in the article, well I guess they'd hire the other poor slobs out there who'd be happy to work for $40k, atleast until they look around and wonder why the fuck they're working so hard while the rest of their colleagues at other institutions are making twice that (or more). 

And don't let's start talking about administrative salaries....