Pima College announced Monday that it is in the final stages of adding a travel rider to the college’s plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona that will cover $5,000 of expenses tied to travel and lodging to receive covered services that they are unable to receive locally.
Terminating a pregnancy is not the only service covered by the new insurance coverage, although it was the focal point of the announcement from Chancellor Lee Lambert.
Phil Burdick, Vice Chancellor of External Relations, was able to give us additional details that weren’t included in the email announcement sent college-wide Monday.
The services are expected to be available beginning October 1. Pima college had 2,368 employees at the end of the pay period ending on September 9. Slightly fewer than half of all employees, 1,180 (49.8%), are eligible to receive benefits such as health insurance coverage. PCC employees without benefits may qualify for assistance based on the Affordable Care Act Measurement Method.
We asked about the price tag. “Elements of the overall College medical plan costs are based on benefit utilization. Actual costs are not known until the end of the plan year. The potential costs of the inclusion of the travel benefit were analyzed by the College’s third-party benefits plan advisors and were judged to be minimal. The financial impact of the travel rider on the overall plan was deemed, ‘cost neutral,'” said Burdick.
Related News from AP: Arizona abortion clinics send women to other states