For background, see this. But a new development tonight: The 500+ adjunct professors at the Jesuit University of San Francisco are only offered a Kaiser health insurance plan that provides for abortion coverage. The hitch: It is more affordable than the university's non-abortion Blue Cross plan. The university hasn't told us how much cheaper it is.
The faculty union and the university hammered out an agreement yesterday afternoon. Here's a statement from USF spokesman Gary McDonald:
The University of San Francisco believes strongly in offering the best health insurance possible to its employees. Most private universities offer no health insurance at all to their adjunct faculty. USF offers health insurance to approximately 65 of its 500+ adjunct faculty, and is committed to increasing that number. A tentative agreement with the union provides coverage through Kaiser Permanente (widely considered to be the best HMO in Northern California), just as the previous contract had done. A Blue Cross plan was not offered. Health insurance through Blue Cross is considerably more expensive, and offering this plan would reduce the number of employees USF could cover, which is contrary to our goal of helping provide health care to as many employees as possible.
There's obviously a clear Catholic imperative to making sure that employees can afford health coverage. And a widely respected canon lawyer consulted by OSV says the USF arrangement is acceptable under Church law. Watch for the full story in an upcoming issue of OSV.
