Cooperative Program in
Space Sciences (CPSS)
Insurance
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions About Insurance
Health Insurance
Q.
In the past I was able to mail order maintenance drugs at no cost to me.
Under the new Lumenos plan it appears that even if I purchase discounted drugs,
the cost will eat up most of my annual health spending account. Is this
fair to USRA employees? We seem to have lost benefits when compared with
our non-USRA colleagues. What other options did the committee explore?
A. Unfortunately there was no single solution to the problem that
faced the committee that investigated Lumenos. It was not a simple choice
between insurance providers. The biggest concern was keeping overall
health care costs as reasonable as possible and as fair to all USRA employees
as possible.
In all probability many of your colleagues who appear to have
"better" health plans are also having some of their benefits reduced
and their premiums raised. There have been numerous articles in
newspapers recently about the rising cost of health care premiums to
workers. One recent report said that many federal civil service workers
will be paying premiums that are 40% higher in 2003 than they were in
2002. It is no longer realistic to expect that employers will be able to
provide insurance at little or no cost to employees.
One of the options facing the committee was reducing benefits
drastically. That was not acceptable. The committee's goal was to
protect as many of the current benefits as possible while still enabling USRA
to remain competitive. That was also the goal of management. The
committee was asked to help make some of the difficult decisions.
USRA is a not-for-profit organization. The higher the cost of the benefits that
USRA provides its employees, the higher the fringe benefit rate that is charged
to the government. If that amount is not in line with our competitors'
rates, USRA will be considered too expensive and lose out on proposal
awards. So will individual USRA scientists who submit grant proposals in
their own names.
Above all the committee tried to find a way to reduce costs that would be fair
to everyone. The Lumenos plan seemed to do that. While one employee
may have high maintenance drug costs, that employee may not need physical
therapy or chiropractic care or chemotherapy as other employees do. In
the past, many employees who have needed those services have had to pay $1,000
($2,000 for a family) before the Guardian plan paid the full amount.
Those same employees may have been able to mail order only a few drugs and,
therefore, did not benefit from the free drug plan. Starting everyone out
with a health spending account seemed the fairest way to proceed.
As unpleasant as it is to accept changes in benefits, USRA still has a good
health plan when compared with many plans in the private sector.
USRA Travel Insurance
Q.
What do the acronyms in the additional insurance portion of an auto rental
agreement stand for?
A. CDW: collision damage waiver
LDW: loss damage waiver
LIS: liability insurance supplement
PAI: personal accident insurance
PEC: personal effects insurance
SLI: supplementary liability insurance
For your protection, please remember to write /USRA after your name on the
rental agreement to ensure coverage under USRA's business insurance
policy. If you don't include this information and are involved in an
accident, your personal auto insurance carrier could be held liable for
damages. If you don't own a car and have no auto insurance, you could be
expected to pay for damages out of your own pocket.
Q.
Alaska and Hawaii are considered OCONUS or outside the continental U. S. when
determining lodging and subsistence per dia. The CPSS employee manual
states that extra insurance coverage on rental cars is an allowable expense
outside the U. S. and Canada. If I rent a car in Alaska or Hawaii while
on USRA business, should I accept additional insurance?
A. No, you should not accept additional insurance (like CDW and LDW) if you
rent a car in Alaska or Hawaii. USRA's business insurance policy is not
restricted to the continental U. S. and covers Alaska and Hawaii. Extra
insurance purchased will not be reimbursed. To ensure coverage by USRA's
insurance policy, however, you should write /USRA after your name on the rental
agreement.
Q.
If my luggage is lost while I'm flying on business for USRA, will USRA's
insurance policy cover the loss or do I need to purchase separate insurance
myself?
A. USRA's policy does not reimburse for lost luggage. The airline bears
the primary responsibility for reimbursing you. However, if your ticket
was purchased through Travel-On with a USRA corporate American Express card,
American Express will provide secondary coverage. Once your claim is
settled with the airline, American Express will pay up to $1,250 for carry-on bags
and $500 for checked bags. It's assumed the airline will pay a larger
amount for checked bags since they clearly bear the responsibility for checked
items. You may want to check with the organizations that issued your
personal credit cards to see if they offer similar coverage for tickets
purchased on their cards.
USRA/CPSS Information (
info@seabrook.usra.edu )
Last modified: Sat. Dec. 28, 2002