Be Colorado is a comprehensive wellness program offered to participants of the University of Colorado Health and Welfare Trust that benefits both the University of Colorado and its employees, according to Risa Heywood, CU health promotion program manager.
Heywood provided an overview of the Be Colorado Program at the Oct. 11 UCCS PESA/Staff Council luncheon highlighting benefits of participation to CU and to individual members. Health insurance for many CU employees is now self-funded, meaning the premiums paid by employees and the university should cover medical expenses employees incur. Be Colorado is a covered benefit within the health trust plans. It is intended to help employees be healthier, reducing medical expenses while improving employee quality of life.
“Be Colorado offerings are not nice-to-have features of employment; they are research-based ways for employees to take a greater role and responsibility for their own health state,” Jill Pollock, vice president and chief human resources officer, said.
Of concern to some who attended the luncheon are Be Colorado eligibility requirements. Only those employees who are members of trust health plans are eligible to participate and to receive prizes.
Brian Burnett, vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, said he believed it logical for those whose premiums support the Be Colorado program to benefit from it. It’s also a legal constraint because health trust monies only may be used for plan participants. In the first year of the Be Colorado program, the initial programs generally will be offered only to employees. Once interest and participation are measured, other family health trust plan participants may be added.
In an Oct. 17 letter, Heywood explained that Be Colorado is funded as a specific category within the operating budget of the CU Health and Welfare Trust. As such, trust funds can only be used for the benefit of trust members. CU employees enrolled in UA Net-Colorado Springs, Lumenos, HMOC or CU Kaiser, she said, are trust members.
“The university is working to combine state Kaiser (available to classified staff) with CU Kaiser and move its members under the trust,” she said. “That decision should be made before the next open enrollment period.”
In the meantime, she encouraged all employees to take advantage of either the Be Colorado program or similar preventive screenings offered by health plans that operate outside of the CU Health and Welfare Trust.
“The Be Colorado website, www.becolorado.org is to be a repository of things wellness-related on the campuses. We do not intend to duplicate existing employee programs but hope to enhance what exists. We plan to have tools and educational information available for all employees,” Heywood wrote.
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