"If I could wave a magic wand one time and eliminate one absurdity, it would be to decouple health insurance from employment. Too many times I've been in budget discussions in which pay increases were projected in the 2 to 3 percent range annually, but health insurance increases were expected (accurately!) to hit double digits. The money paid on the employer side goes up, but the employees never see it."
"(Insurance generally needs serious rethinking. When it's for-profit, the incentives are completely wrong. I've been wrestling with my mom's long-term care insurance company for a solid year, even continuing to pay premiums, and they haven't sent a cent. Every few weeks brings a new form to fill out, which leads to another and another. She paid premiums for decades, and now we're paying them, and all we get is a slow cascade of forms. That this is legal is patently absurd.)"
Adjunct pay across most of higher education is a scandal with deep structural roots. Employer-tied health insurance magnifies budget strains because institutional contributions rise while employee take-home pay remains flat. Health insurance premium increases often hit double digits, creating significant employer-side cost growth that employees do not see. For-profit insurance creates perverse incentives and onerous claim processes, exemplified by long-term care claims delayed by repeated paperwork despite decades of premium payments. Rigid administrative rules can produce absurd staffing and scheduling outcomes, such as excluding classes starting after 4:00 p.m. from regular faculty loads and forcing adjunct payment regardless of demand or instructor.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
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