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Health insurance premiums rise
Current and retired university employees will pay 15 percent more for Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance coverage beginning Aug. 1. Another yet-to-be-determined increase will go into effect next January for those who stay with the current indemnity plan instead of switching to another insurance option in November.
The University System Board of Regents approved the rate increases as part of an effort to offset continuing deficits in the indemnity plan. The regents also approved a 17.4 percent increase in the employer-paid portion of indemnity-plan premiums beginning July 1.
New indemnity-plan rates for employees and retirees are: single employee $56; employee with one dependent $116.72; employee with more than one dependent $136.40; retiree with Medicare $28.18; retiree with one dependent, both with Medicare, $56.36.
In November, an open enrollment period will be held in which employees and retirees can choose to stay with the indemnity plan, or enroll in a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) or possibly an HMO (health maintenance organization). Premiums for the PPO haven’t been set, but they are expected to be about the same as the current indemnity-plan rates.
The university’s human resources division will continue to provide the most current information about insurance coverage on its Web page called “What’s New” (www.busfin.uga.edu/human_resources/whatsnew.html). Employees can also e-mail questions to the human resources employee benefits department (benefits@uga.edu) or call the office (542-1814.)
Peabody Awards presented May 22
Matt Lauer, host of NBC’s Today show, emcees the 59th annual Peabody Awards ceremony May 22 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. The award winners, chosen from more than 1,200 entries of programs broadcast in 1999, were announced in March. The Peabody Awards have been administered since their inception by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and are considered the broadcast and cable industry’s most prestigious prize.
Scheduled to attend the ceremony are members of the cast of The Sopranos, one of two prime-time series honored this year. Among other expected attendees are Bill and Camille Cosby; documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (collecting his third Peabody); and veteran newsmen Bob Edwards of Morning Edition and Bob Simon of CBS News. Sheila Nevins, executive vice president for original programming at HBO, will be recognized with a personal Peabody Award.
The awards ceremony will include a special video tribute to Peabody Awards Director Barry Sherman, who died May 2.
New Foundation Fellows announced
Twenty-four students from Georgia and six other states are recipients of the university’s prestigious Foundation Fellowship, which covers all costs for four years of undergraduate study and includes opportunities for international travel-study and other academic enrichment experiences.
The new fellows were chosen through a competitive process that included an interview weekend on campus in February.
The average SAT of the incoming fellows is 1508. Eleven of the 24 had perfect 800 scores on either the verbal or math portions of the test. Their average high school grade point average is 4.08 (on a 4.0 scale) and the list of their high school activities and honors is just as impressive.
“We are delighted with the very strong academic credentials and the variety of talents these students bring to the fellowship and to the university,” says Jere Morehead, associate provost and director of both the Honors and Foundation Fellows programs at UGA. “These are students who had a lot of options open to them, so we’re extremely pleased they chose the University of Georgia.”
The Foundation Fellows Program was established in 1972 by the trustees of the University of Georgia Foundation and is supported by a $55 million endowment. The 24 entering students will bring the number of current fellows to 80.
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