Cornell faculty and staff subscribed to the University’s endowed health plan will experience moderate increases in co-payment rates beginning January 2012, Paul Bursic, senior director of benefit services in the Division of Human Resources, announced Oct. 19.

Co-payments for physician visits will rise from $18 to $20, and co-payments for pharmaceutical prescriptions will increase between $5 and $15, depending on brand and supply amount, according to a University press release.

The plan covers more than 95 percent of Cornell employees, according to Bursic. The higher co-payments at Cornell is part of a nationwide increase in health costs, Bursic said

“Medical inflation is not going away. It costs more to provide the type of premium coverage we’ve regularly had,” Bursic said. “We’re not immune to the raises — every business is facing it. Cornell is trying its best.”

This increase follows continual, steady increases in co-payments under the University’s healthcare plan, Bursic said.

“Nobody likes increases in payment. I don’t like it. However, everybody wants to have quality insurance and, at the end of the day, make room in their budget,” he said.

Bursic added that the University was constrained in its ability to confront a national problem.

“Cornell can’t do it alone. The state of New York can’t do it alone. Change must come from the federal government,” he said.

Bursic said the government’s inability to tackle the growing costs of public health insurance programs was triggering the increase at Cornell.

“The government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs have the largest share of the insurance market. They can seriously tackle this issue.” Bursic said.  

Some Cornell employees said they did not expect the new co-payment charge to change their opinion of the University’s health plan.

Anne Carson, collections assistant at Kroch Library, who is subscribed to the plan, said she was “pretty happy” with the coverage, regardless of the increase.

Several faculty members expressed apathy to the change.

“I have to admit I’m ignorant to the rise. I’ve been on the same health care plan for over 25 years … I have not paid attention to the changes,” said Prof. Richard Harrison, ecology and evolution.