NU moving health insurance plans back to Blue Cross

May 24—Five years after dropping its health insurance plans with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska plans to return to the Omaha-based insurance provider.

In an email to campus on Tuesday, NU President Ted Carter said the university plans to change its health, pharmacy and dental insurance carriers in 2024 pending approval of the Board of Regents.

NU will move its health insurance plans from UMR, a United Healthcare company, which it entered into a five-year contract with in 2018, back to Blue Nebraska.

The university will also switch its dental insurance carrier from Ameritas to Delta Dental of Nebraska, and its pharmacy insurance carrier from CVS Health to EmpiRx Health, Carter notified employees.

"We are bringing these changes forward following a robust competitive bidding process that attracted bids from multiple vendors," Carter said.

A committee of 12 faculty and staff worked with an outside consulting firm, Gallagher Benefit Service, to evaluate the bids on a number of factors, including the number of providers in a network and the discounts offered by those in-network providers.

The switch won't save NU any money. Five years ago, amid statewide budget challenges, the change to insurance providers netted NU nearly $12.3 million in savings between its health, dental, and life insurance plans.

Nearly all — 99% — of health providers used by NU employees and their families within the last year were in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska network, Carter said, while 86% of dental providers were in the Delta Dental network.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska also agreed to hire 24 paid interns from NU, capitalizing on a policy change made by the university late last year to give companies added consideration if they agreed to take on student workers.

Carter said the proposed switch in insurance carriers will go before the NU Board of Regents on June 22 for approval.

If the bids are accepted by regents, the new plans would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. NU expects "minimal disruptions" with the transitions, and has set up customer service lines to help answer employees' questions.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or [email protected].

On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS

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