The Office: Season 1, Episode 3 “Health Care”

Good morning and welcome back to the breakroom where you are just in time to have your questions answered on the exciting topic of health care. Within the first two minutes Michael tells us that it is his responsibility to choose the new health care plan for the office, which should mean we are in safe hands, right?

Before we go much further, I would like to point out a few key details to prepare you for this scenario. As this originally occurred in in 2005, the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) had not been signed into law yet, this having occurred in 2010. Additionally, this entire topic might feel odd for any of our colleagues living outside of the United States. While many countries offer a form of universal health care (i.e. Canada, Sweden, or France) the United States still puts this responsibility on its citizens. Because personal insurance plans were, and still can be, expensive and often with few benefits it is very common for companies to offer their employees insurance plans as a means draw in candidates. This results in the employers paying a portion of the premium to make it more affordable on the employee; but these costs to the company will still add up so it is not uncommon for them to find plans more affordable when trying to cut costs.

Going back to Michael, he is discussing with his boss, Jan, on the exciting plan he has selected, and he is pulling out all the stops with the Gold Plan. This includes acupuncture, therapeutic massage and “the works.” This doesn’t fly with Jan since it seems Michael was unaware the purpose was to actually save money. This means he needs simply pick an insurance provider and then choose the cheapest plan. This does certainly sound like Jan, and corporate, might be trying to pawn the blame of this off on Michael. Normally such companies would make decisions regarding insurance on the corporate level and wouldn’t task a branch manager with that sort of authority. This would result in one provider for all employees rather than allowing each branch to go with a different insurance company, which could even be more expensive than working with one provider. Especially given the fact that corporate is simply trying to find the cheapest plan available, and they truly could have resolved this quandary themselves. Given that we already know they intend to downsize, I think it is safe to say that corporate might not be operating under the best business practices.

It is here that we begin to see Michael beginning to spiral, and this will last the remainder of the day. When Jan points out how passing on bad news to employees is a key piece of being a leader, it is quite evident this is not one of Michael’s strengths. This becomes clearer when he tasks Dwight with the responsibility of choosing what we now know will be a cheap health plan (after Jim so eloquently passes on this offer). Dwight is delighted with this opportunity and immediately chooses a plan and even circulates a memo with the updated plan. In his own words: “What did I do? I did my job. I slashed benefits to the bone, I saved this company money. Was I too harsh? Maybe. I don’t believe in coddling people, in the wild there is no health care. In the wild health care is ‘Ow, I hurt my leg. I can’t run, a lion eats me and I’m dead.’ Well, I’m not dead. I’m the lion, you’re dead.”

While we do not know all of the details of the health plan, Stanley does share that there is no dental, no vision and a $1,200 deductible. Let us take a moment go through some general definitions of key words used in health insurance as without understanding them could result in some confusion when you choose to use your insurance. Here are some definitions courtesy of eHealthInsurance, but typically the website of your insurance provider would offer similar information so you should take the time to familiarize yourself.

Dental/Vision: Medical insurance does not normally cover routine dental or vision care. This would include cleanings and root-canals for dental, eye exams and glasses for vision. Since these are not offered with the proposed plan, they will be responsible for seeking out and signing up for their own plan. For companies that do offer these plans, they are normally additional plans which can be added when going through enrollment. For instance, perhaps I accept my company’s medical insurance but I do not feel that I need to worry about vision so I opt out of that option.

Premium: The amount of money you pay to your health insurance company each month to remain enrolled. While Dunder Mifflin will pay a certain portion of the premium, there will still be monthly payments the employees must pay to keep their insurance. While this can vary, a study by eHealth tells us the average is $484 for individuals, $1,230 for families per month.

Deductible: The amount of money you must pay out-of-pocket before the insurance starts to pay for health care services. Since we know the deductible is $1,200, they will be required to pay that much for their services before the insurance will kick in. Unless you are capitalizing on many procedures, many employees would rarely get to this limit and therefore not see the insurance kick in.

Copay: Types of cost sharing payments you have to make out-of-pocket when you receive certain services or medications, often a flat rate. Let us say you have met your deductible already but have a copay on doctor visits of $10, you will still be required to pay that flat amount for each visit.

There are just covering the most common terms you would want to be familiar with, but there many other pieces to an insurance plan you will want to review so review them carefully. If you are having difficulty following or have questions, feel free to reach out to your insurance provider. Most importantly, for those who have insurance through your provider you should always watch out for annual enrollment when you need to renew your insurance plans because if you miss that window, you can find yourself having let your plan lapse and you no longer can opt in without an appropriate qualifying life event (i.e. getting married, having a child, etc…).¹

We are officially halfway through the day; Dwight is happy with this work, Michael is doing everything possible to avoid talking to anyone, and the office is very unhappy with seeing their insurance benefits slashed. But their concerns have officially been heard; not only has Michael promised to provide a huge surprise, but Dwight is also willing to tweak the plan. He just needs to know everyone’s health needs and will ensure they are included. Jim is quick to point out that no, an employer cannot ask such personal questions to employees. Technically this is correct as the Americans with Disability Act says that employees should only be asked questions if they are “job-related and consistent with business necessity.” Dwight is adamant they will be anonymous, and it is simply about ensuring they get the coverage they want. Corporate has already been mismanaging this whole situation of insurance so I suppose why not let this play out. (But no, do not ask your staff about their health issues unless there is a legitimate reason to, typically because you believe it is in impeding with their ability to do their job or they are a risk to the office).

Now what Dwight failed to take into account is that an employee might put down “fake illnesses.” Two of these included leprosy and flesh-eating bacteria; in defense of Dwight these are illnesses which could truly be a risk to the office staff. Count Choculitis, that one I’ll let slide because it is an obvious joke and would not pose a true threat. Should you find yourself in a similar situation, please stick to obviously fake illnesses which could be written off as a joke. Because of this, Dwight decides to hold court and go through each illness one by one. Now, I do not personally work with health insurance and benefits but I am amazed at how in-depth Dwight is getting to ensuring these conditions are covered. I would imagine that the majority should automatically fall under general medical insurance and there shouldn’t be a need to break down each one. Unless, of course, he is simply trying to collect information on his colleagues to know their weaknesses and medical conditions. This would be very dubious and calculated, but would he really do this? Yes, he really would so I will go with that as the reason.

With that, the end of the day has arrived (with still no increase on benefits) and we find that Michael was unable to come up with a special surprise. Unless you are a big fan of ice cream sandwiches, but the weird rectangular ones rather than the good kind with chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, I think we need to chop this up as a truly disappointing day.

So, what did we learn today? We learned a few tidbits on health insurance to help us understand the terms a bit, but it is important to take the time and evaluate your insurance to know all that you are eligible for. Always pay attention for when your yearly open enrollment is and make it a point to complete this early rather than waiting until the last moment. We learned there are limits to how much personal health information you can ask your employees; I know this is a bit shock. And I think we learned that you should be warry when your boss promises a huge surprise at the end of the day. Maybe don’t get too excited, keep the standard ice cream sandwich as your baseline.

With that, I wish everyone lots of health and look forward to the next time we can get together here in the breakroom.