THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407230001
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
While Washington ties itself in knots finding something that can be labeled ``health reform'' and can pass Congress, corporations and their employees in different parts of the country have been coming up with their own solutions to rising health care-costs. Dominion Resources, the parent company of Virginia Power, has been one of those leading the way.
One of the reasons the cost of health insurance has risen so fast for American corporations is because it doesn't act as insurance in the true sense. Insurance is supposed to protect individuals or survivors against catastrophic losses such as fire or auto accidents. Health insurance, by contrast, acts as prepaid health care. People make use of it for routine medical expenses.
In 1989, Dominion Resources figured one way to deal with escalating health-care costs was to treat health insurance the same as other types of insurance: let employees shop around. The company offers a plan with a $3,000 deductible for families and $1,500 for individuals. Above those levels, all medical expenses are covered.
The company has also set up a payroll-deduction plan that allows employees to save money in interest-bearing accounts that they can use toward paying the deductibles. Money not used at the end of one year can be rolled over to the next.
The Dominion plan saves the company money. (Last year, it returned $68,000 from its insurance pool back to its employees.) It also puts employees in charge of their own health care. Instead of coming up with a statist boondoggle that Congress can foist on the American people, Washington should look toward the Old Dominion for some answers. by CNB