UI calms health insurance fears

An erroneous mass e-mail sent out late last week had a bunch of University of Iowa employees confused and scrambling for coverage ¡ª health coverage.

Second Wind Fitness and Exercise Equipment in Coralville sent an e-mail advertisement to UI employees that indicated UI's flex benefits program would expire on Dec. 31, and they could spend leftover money at Second Wind.

¡°What is wrong is they called it the Flexible Benefits program,¡± said Richard Saunders, UI benefits and payroll director. ¡°The person used incorrect terminology. As a result, all the employees thought they would lose all of their insurance on Dec. 31.¡±

Saunders¡¯ office was flooded with calls and e-mails, which prompted UI to respond with its own mass e-mail on Friday that said UI ¡°has no connection to this vendor and did not approve their narrative. The (UI) benefit programs are not ending on Dec. 31, and we are not endorsing this vendor or their products.¡±

¡°I couldn¡¯t even tell you; we received so many of them,¡± Saunders said of how many calls and e-mails his office received before sending out the correct information.

The Second Wind e-mail told people: ¡°Your University of Iowa Flex Benefits Package expires on December 31st. The University of Iowa is excited to announce that your Flex Benefits Package allows you to purchase premium quality exercise equipment with full reimbursement from 2nd Wind Exercise.¡±

One issue is that the flex benefits don¡¯t expire at the end of the year, Saunders said. The ¡°health care spending account¡± is what expires and doesn¡¯t roll over.

This account allows employees to have pre-tax money taken out of their pay check and put into a fund to pay out of pocket medical payments, such as over-the-counter medical products or -- with a doctor¡¯s note -- exercise equipment.

Kyle Edwards, Second Wind manager, sent the e-mail. Edwards said the confusion was unintentional and apologized to UI.

¡°It was just miscommunication. As far as Second Wind is concerned, what we¡¯ve been told is if you have a (Body Mass Index) over 30, then your flex benefits do cover it, but apparently that isn¡¯t the case,¡± he said.

Edwards got the list of faculty and staff through an open records request for a $75 charge.

UI spokesman Steve Parrott, who handles many open records requests, said UI doesn¡¯t solicit businesses to buy directory information, but they are obligated to provide it when asked.

Other than the error, another issue UI had with the e-mail was that it gave the impression the university was supporting the vendor, Parrott said. Parrott said he doesn¡¯t suspect any malicious intent involved.

¡°If we buy their product, that¡¯s OK to tell people, but we don¡¯t allow them to say we are endorsing their products over all others,¡± Parrott said.

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