Following Northwestern’s announcement that UnitedHealthcare will replace Blue Cross Blue Shield as the University’s employee health care administrator, human resources representatives fielded faculty concerns at a special Faculty Senate meeting Thursday.
The University announced June 12 that all medical plans for NU faculty and staff will be administered by UnitedHealthcare starting Jan. 1, 2026. Faculty voiced disapproval with the change and launched a petition against it in July, which garnered thousands of signatures.
In response to complaints over limited faculty involvement in the decision, Vice President of Human Resources Lorraine Goffe called attention to the NU Committee of Welfare Plan Administrators.
Goffe said the committee, created by the University’s Board of Trustees, was responsible for the decision to transition.
She expressed hope that the recent appointment of Kellogg Prof. David Dranove as NUWPA’s academic advisor will continue to lessen the gap in faculty involvement in future decision-making.
“One of the goals that we have going forward is to figure out ways where we can be helpful to you guys and fill that gap,” Political science professor and Faculty Senate President Ian Hurd said.
Former University President Michael Schill and Provost Kathleen Hagerty were also actively involved in the decision-making process, according to Goffe.
Goffe explained that the University would go from paying 75% of its employees’ premiums to 79%, a benefit to faculty and staff under the new plan.
Goffe and Director of Benefits Dawn Kalamaras said the three-year contract with UnitedHealthcare will be monitored on a quarterly basis to address concerns and provide feedback on the plan as the contract progresses.
Black studies Prof. Nicole Spigner questioned why NU could not have mirrored the same coverage with UnitedHealthcare as they had with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
In response, Goffe clarified UnitedHealthcare’s relationship with the University as a third-party administrator. While NU decides the content of its own plan, the third-party administrator focuses on the plan’s everyday operation, such as claim processing. Thus, Goffe assured faculty that changes in what the plans cover will be made based on the decisions of Northwestern, not UnitedHealthcare.
Spigner also questioned what the University administration would do to manage the “cumbersome” system that UnitedHealthcare sets out for providers.
“My chiropractor said it isn’t that they wouldn’t want to use United Healthcare. It’s just that United Healthcare, every three or four visits, requires that my chiropractor put in all of the paperwork about me and my case,” Spigner said.
She said UnitedHealthcare’s hurdles for providers could prevent a smooth transition to the new health care administrator.
In response, Goffe said the role of the third-party administrator has remained the same — to manage the plans the way NU designed them. Whether it’s Blue Cross Blue Shield or UnitedHealthcare, Goffe assured faculty that changes in what the plans cover will not change on the basis of administrators.
Moreover, Goffe said there was a high degree of overlap between the Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare network, leading to a disruption rate — the percent of individuals who must change providers following the switch — of only 3.
“When we did have disruption, it was mostly behavioral health,” Goffe said. “We worked with the UHC to try to address that. They understood our concern, and they had a few people that came into the Chicago area and worked on literally knocking doors to increase the network in the behavioral health area.”
Medill Prof. Jacqueline Babb highlighted the faculty’s desire for a communal complaint box of sorts to ensure transparency in the shift’s evaluation.
Babb said a visible complaint hub will help faculty to assess the new administrator from a perspective beyond their own private situations.
“Your committee will be making the determination as to whether or not to break this contract based on the metrics, but we won’t see them,” Babb said. “I think the faculty and staff are looking for something that has some transparency.”
In response, Goffe said NUWPA would look into sharing the information needed for Babb’s suggestion.
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