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For those of us who sit on the governing boards of the Commonwealth’s universities, supporting non-ideological, commonsense solutions to challenges facing our universities is one of the most important steps we can take in meeting our fiduciary responsibilities.  This “Other Qualified Adult” health insurance benefit for our faculty and staff is such a reasoned step and would help keep the Commonwealth’s universities competitive nationally.  Virtually all of our peer group  -- from big state universities to the Ivy League schools – offer this benefit as they compete with us for the best faculty and staff.

If we fail to adopt this policy, we will be handicapping our universities in a highly competitive marketplace.  And we will be doing so at a time when the Commonwealth has already dramatically cut its financial support to our universities (a 32% cut in state operational support in the last two years alone at William and Mary), making our salaries less competitive. 

It is important to highlight several key points in regard to the proposed adoption of the OQA health insurance benefit:

n  100% of the cost of the insurance for the OQA will be paid by the enrollee, unlike the situation with other enrollees.

n  This approach is being used at numerous other universities, including University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Louisville, University of Michigan, Georgetown University and others.

n  Similar benefits are now provided to state employees in Maryland and other states, as well as a municipal employees in a number of cities in North Carolina and elsewhere around the country.  The Commonwealth would hardly be a pioneer in adopting this health insurance benefit.

n  Many private employers in the Commonwealth are offering this health insurance benefit – from Altria and Dominion Resources, to CarMax and Newport News Shipbuilding.   It is difficult to explain to anyone why a distinguished professor or valued employee at William and Mary is denied this benefit, while it is readily provided by these private employers in nearby Newport News or Richmond.

n  And lastly we must not forget that the Commonwealth’s universities have been national and international leaders in higher education – competing head to head for the best and brightest students, faculty and staff.  And that is a source of immense pride for all of us.  But we must be responsive to today’s marketplace or else we will start to lose that position of preeminence.  It is more than ironic that Phil Beta Kappa, founded at William and Mary in 1776, now uses the health insurance benefit being proposed in this rulemaking as one of the indicators of commitment to academic excellence as part of determining whether a university which does not have one should be granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.  It is irrational that William and Mary.  which gave birth to Phi Beta Kappa. is today not permitted to meet one of that organization’s indicators of excellence in the treatment of faculty and staff.

It is important that this proposed rulemaking be seen for what it is:  a marketplace driven response to competition.  As a member of the Board of Visitors of William and Mary, I know full well that the faculty and staff of Virginia’s universities are second to none but I also know that the marketplace will cause us to lose highly valued professors and staff if we do not offer competitive benefits.  Adopting OQA is an important step in meeting this competition.