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University Daily Kansan, October 6, 1982
By'MATT BARTEL Staff Reporter
Increases in Blue Cross and Blue Shield group insurance rates totaling nearly 50 percent for the past two years have Kansas Union administrators looking for alternatives. Union officials said yesterday.
"We're just barely making it from month to month now, and that's another $3 tacked on," said Tom Wright, a Union concessions employee who supports a family of three.
Wright said the increase was more than enough to wipe out the pay hike Union employees received last year, which averaged 8 percent.
Warner Ferguson, associate director of the Union, said 80 of the Union's 140 full-time employees are currently covered by Blue Cross.
Rex Buell, Union personnel manager, said charges to employees, or half of actual charges, had risen from $32.96 a month for individual coverage to $45.27 and from $70.18 for families to $90.04.
"We will be looking for ways to reduce that cost." Ferguson said.
THE UNION pays the other half of insurance charges, Buell said.
But, he said, because the increase starts with the October payroll the Union has not yet had sufficient time to complete, costly options would be available.
Employees polled yesterday at a series of meetings with BELL indicated that although they wanted to stay with the present coverage for the time being, they also favored a search for less expensive alterna- tions because the health maintaining some type of insurance was necessary.
"You can't afford to pay (the premium), but if you go into the
hospital one time, you can' afford that either, "Albert Davis, Union concessions worker, said.
DAVIS SAID that his wife gave birth to their first baby last week and that they had checked out of the hospital two days earlier than scheduled to help keep the cost down.
Lou Svasastro, public information officer for Blue Cross in Kansas City. M., said such rate increases were largely due to a substantial increase in the utilization of medical services that they "can't quite explain."
He said part of the reason for the higher medical costs was the newer, more expensive technology that has been developed at the medical field in recent years.
"Technology is rampant," Savastano said. "Overnight, you get X-rays that cost $200."
HE SAID Blue Cross usually tried to put aside a few pennies from every dollar of premiums for catastrophic expenses. But reserves for that are down to almost nothing, Savastano said.
"On every dollar we get, we pay out 92 cents in benefits," he said. The average number of days people covered by his company spend in the hospital is well above the national average. Savastano said.
"We're trying to educate our individuals to think twice about whether the treatment they're being given is really necessary," he said.
BUT UNION employees carried little sympathy for such arguments, indicating they wanted the Union to look at other solutions, including competitive bidding for coverage and self-insurance, in which the Union would act as its own insurance company.
However, Buell said the administrative costs of a self-insurance program could be prohibitive.
On the record
BURGLARS STOLE jewelry worth $600 from a house in the 1900 block of East 18th Street Monday night, Lawrence police said yesterday.
BURGLARS STORE ITEMS worth $265 during the weekend from a house in the 1900 block of West 31st Street, police said yesterday. The burglaries stole a fan, bed spread, linen, pillows and two brass lamps.
LAWRENCE POLICE investigated a bomb threat Monday night at a
Lawrence nursing home. An anon-
mous caller said there was a bomb at
Autumn Manor Inc., 1800 W. 27th St.
around 10:15 am. Monday, no police.
Residents were not evacuated but were moved to the back of the building. No bomb was discovered when police searched the building.
KU POLICE WERE called to Hashinger Hall Night night to investigate a man who claimed he was taking yearbook donations.
Vending machines' existence threatened
By CAROL LICHTI Staff Reporter
Burglaries are threatening the existence of vending machines on the KU campus, the associate director of the Kansas Union said yesterday.
The associate director, Warner Ferguson, said if the destruction of property continued, the vending machines would be taken out.
weekend, and there were several cases of vandalism on campus totaling $2,135
"Of course that would be a last resort," he said.
KU police said burglaries broke into four vending machines on campus last
THE BURGLARS did $190 worth of damage to a candy dancing machine in Haworth Hall and took an undermined amount of cash, police said. A police officer from Blake Hall received $60 damage and $14.85 was stolen from the machine.
Burglarls also broke into a vending machine in Strong Hall and one in the Visual Arts building last weekend, police said. Damage to the Visual Arts' vending machine was $4, and $54.75 was stolen. Burglarls provided $90 damage when they took an undetermined amount of cash from the machine in Strong Hall.
FERGUSON SAID the cost of repairing the machines was approaching the machines' values, prompting the proposal for their possible removal.
Don Henchek, Coca-Cola routeman,
said a pop machine's value was about
$1,700, and candy machines were worth
a bit less.
KU Police Lt. Leanne Longaker said detectives in the department were working on the vending machine case, but they could not determine if the
same people were responsible for the recent crimes as well as those in September.
During September police said, several vending machines at Rusty's food stores in Lawrence were broken into on the same weekend that the machines on the road were parked at the Jayhawk. Booksstore, 1420 Creighton, Road was broken into twice.
IN ORDER TO decrease the amount of money stolen from the machines, Ferguson said, the money in the machines was being removed on a daily basis.
Alumni Center to benefit faculty, alums
By DAN PARELMAN and DIRK MILLER Staff Reporters
R. D. Anderson Construction Co., Topeka, is now putting the roof on the KS. "Boots" Adams Alumni Center, which was planned to fill the University of Kansas Alumni Association's need for more space and KU faculty's desire for a faculty club, the director of the university, Kansas Alumni Center said Monday.
Both the Alumni Association and faculty have sought funds for the
"We tried in the early stages to identify the key alumni who might be interested in the project," Dick Winternote, the director, said.
THE FAMILY of the late Kenneth S. Adams, KU graduate and former president of Phillips Petroleum Co., donated $1.3 million toward building the center two years ago. Faculty have also raised funds for the $5 million, three-story center, which will house a faculty-ulmil club and services for
retired faculty, as well as offices for the Alumni Association.
Wintermere said Mr. and Mrs. Paul Endacott donated the money for the
Construction of the center is on schedule for its projected completion date of late spring 1983, Wintermote said.
Lilon Capps, associate dean of education, who headed the drive for a new faculty club, said that all of the faculty contacts to raise money for the center.
The faculty had an alumni club for 26 years, but it closed in 1967 because of a large debt. The club was located at the building below the Kansas Union's Jayhawk Boulevard parking lot, where the University Relations Office is now.
RAYMOND NICHOLS, the former KU
broke up because of a lack of members
Tom Yoe, assistant director of international publicity for University Relations, said the original faculty club had died out because it was located on state property and no liquor could be served there.
Yoe said he dropped his membership in the original faculty club because there were "limited party applications" at the club.
But the new faculty, staff and alumni club will be on Endowment Association property, not University property, and so will not violate state law laws that prohibit anything but 3.2 beer on state property, said Jim Martin, vice president of fund-raising for the Kansas University Endowment Association
Martin said he was certain that the club would have to charge membership
WINTERMOTE SAID the club would not discriminate by accepting only KU faculty, staff and alumni because anyone who donated money to the Alumni Association could become a member.
“Besides, half the state are KU alumni, anyway.” Wintermute said.
Capps said this club would probably not go bankrupt because more dues would be raised from a larger faculty membership. Mr. Bentle pated in the last club. About 45 percent of
the faculty were members of the last club, he said.
Faculty raised $70,000 for a faculty club five years ago, but the University told them that funds were already needed to build a new art museum.
Wintermate, Capps and Seaver said that a faculty club would be important for raising faculty morale. Caps said the club would be a meeting place of faculty from all disciplines could get to know each other and discuss their concerns.
THE FACULTY, staff and alumni club would include a bar, a dining room, a lounge area, and three multi-purpose rooms, Winternote said.
Obtaining large sums of money from private donors for an alumni center and faculty-alumni club does not seem out of academic budget cuts. Campus said.
"I think what you have to recognize is that the Endowment Association gives thousands and thousands of dollars to the University now," Capps said.
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