Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210028
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Increased employee payments of health care costs and an expanded prevention program will take effect in January, the company said Tuesday. A managed health care plan may be offered later that would provide for negotiation for lower health care prices.
This will be part of a four-part, company-wide integrated health care package, said Dale Merriss, new manager of the Martinsville plant. Merriss arrived this month from a headquarters job in Wilmington, Del., to succeed John Paige, who retired March 31.
Du Pont plans to cut its share of payment for employees' health care from 89 percent to 80 percent by January. Premiums paid by employees will range from $7 a month for an individual to $21 for a family, and deductibles will be increased.
Other parts of the health care package, Merriss said, are immunizations, preventive child care and periodic health evaluations for adults. Physical exams, lifestyle assessment, health counseling and an employee assistance service will be offered at the plant, the company said.
Du Pont Chairman E.S. Woolard Jr. said in a statement that the company thinks everyone should have "a reasonable, comprehensive package, not a bare minimum" of health care. He said the company's health care costs last year reached $530 million, or $6,600 per employee, up from $40 million, or $300 per employee, in 1973.
Dean Goad, president of the employees' union at the Martinsville plant and of the International Brotherhood of Du Pont Workers, which represents workers at 12 plants, said the company is giving employees no choice and did not permit union input for the new health plan.
The union said the company's "increased cost sharing" of employee health care costs is expected to fall from the present 89 percent to 50 percent by 1997.
by CNB