By SHANNON O. WELLS

After talking with Human Resources to clarify how costs and Pitt’s insurance coverage for medical, dental and eye insurance have changed in recent years, Michael Pinsky, professor of critical care medicine, told the Senate Benefits and Welfare Committee that dental plan co-pays and plans could be changing — possibly for the better.

There’s been no change in what is covered, he said at the March 25 committee meeting. “What has changed (are) the co-pays … and the costs. This represents a national experience that everyone is seeing.”

As a result, HR told Pinsky they would undertake a request for proposals (RFP) from various insurance companies to see what else is available other than the current coverage, possibly with a different company. “And they’re going to re-examine the potential coverage that they can give to faculty and staff.”

Calling the interaction “very cordial,” he said representatives were “very open” and “glad to talk to me” as a non-union representative of the committee. Pinsky had been asked by the committee at its February meeting to approach HR.

“They were very much worried. … They didn’t want raised costs if they could (avoid it),” he explained. The changing co-pays “can have a significant impact on quality of life, and they were very sensitive to that.”

Pinsky reported that HR would, as part of their review process of various companies, seek input from faculty “because it may change the way the coverage works. As you can imagine, if you go with different companies, things are differently structured.

“They offered to meet with me and us anytime again. … I felt they were being honest with us in every way.”

Judy Callan, an associate professor of nursing who raised the cost concerns at the committee’s February meeting, thanked Pinsky for his efforts.

“I’m really happy to hear that they’re putting out this RFP, because I think that can only benefit other people, getting other plans and maybe something that might be superior to what we have,” she said.

Committee members went on to discuss information shared in the March 16 edition of the University Times regarding health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), and health reimbursement arrangements (HRA).

Committee Chair Tom Songer, a faculty member in the School of Public Health, said after reading up on HRAs, he thought it might be a viable option for the University “as a mechanism to deal with the rising out-of-pocket costs through deductibles and copayments.”

Pitt does not offer an HRA — an employer-funded plan that reimburses employees for qualified medical expenses. In most cases, the plans will reimburse your in-network doctor directly and is usually tax-free.

“The onus there … it looks to me like an employer benefit much more so than the employees themselves taking on the responsibility, and I think that’s its appeal,” he said. “Many of us have had experience with the FSA, where you use it or lose it, and you’re trying to identify, ‘Well, what is the amount I should be taking out so I’m not ending up losing anything at the end of the calendar year?’”

Songer’s comments prompted a question about a “ballpark amount” that employees can request from the HRA, which Songer said he would investigate.

“That’s part of the discussion, if you’re going to take it,” said Avital Isenberg, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy. “I feel like it should be something significant, not just, ‘Hey, we’ll cover your $100 co-pay for your one medication for one month. If we’re actually going to take it to somebody, just knowing what other employers have done in the past might be helpful in this discussion too.”

Regarding the HSA, Pinsky noted difficulty he had online in determining how much he has remaining in his savings account each month.

“One of the things that I would recommend if we could, from the Benefits and Welfare Committee, is to make it more transparent,” he said. “If you’re putting in $50, $100, whatever it is, each month, how much do you have of it left? Also, you can take a certain percentage of that and carry it over the next year …

“You only take a certain amount, but knowing ahead of time and knowing what you’ve got at the time should be something that I should easily click on my.pitt.edu and be able to see,” he added. “At the moment, it’s not that easy.”

In other news, committee secretary Linda Tashbook, an adjunct professor in the School of Law, updated the committee on the pollinator garden in memory of Laura Lovett, a former professor in the Dietrich School’s Department of History and its Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program, who unexpectedly passed away in March 2025, “is finally going to be planted on April the 28th.”

Tashbook explained how her initial efforts to plant a tree weren’t encouraging, but led to an offer from the Office of Sustainability to dedicate a proposed pollinator garden to Lovett’s memory. Through word of mouth, various departments got involved to raise money in for the garden in Lovett’s name.

“We’re calling it the Laura Lovett garden, and everything worked out well,” Tashbook said, sharing a link for those who want to volunteer to help plant the garden. “There are various time slots. Three of us from this committee have already signed up.”

Volunteers are asked to meet at the Tennyson Street entrance to Clapp Hall at 11 a.m. on April 28. 

In other Mental Wellness Task Force news, Tashbook said online art walks are now available to the Pitt community.

“It’s as if you’re visiting a museum, but you don’t have to leave your desk, because sometimes people just need a 15-minute break from their work,” she said. “These online art walks point to works of art that are owned by the University and already online. We’re making thumbnail images that you click on, and then you can zoom in to the full image and get a little curated description of it.”

Some “soothing guidance” has been added to go with it, she noted.

One “walk” is about validation and another about solitude, with “more to come.” Clicking on “escape,” for example, leads to an array of several works of art that “kind of represent the feeling of escape,” Tashbook said. “And there’s an introductory, soothing paragraph or so about escape.”

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

 

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