OU Human Resources is recommending a new retirement medical benefit plan that could decrease the amount of medical care covered beginning January 2016.

The department discussed changes at a town hall meeting Thursday in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Meacham Auditorium.

The current retiree guidelines state once an employee has reached the proper prerequisites for retirement, OU will subsidize 100 percent of medical costs, said Julius Hilburn, associate vice president and chief human resources officer.

The new policy, which will be submitted to OU President David Boren in March, aims to cut that subsidy to between 55 and 95 percent, Hilburn said. Coverage would depend on length of employment and age, and no one would be eligible until age 55.

“We are trying to create a system that spreads the impact of change more evenly across the affected employees to create the fairest possible situation,” Hilburn said.

While benefit restructuring is necessary in the long run due to financial issues, many staff members will accept the changes grudgingly, Staff Senate Chairwoman Fran Stephens said.

“For the most part I think the staff is accepting that change in the benefits policy is unavoidable,” Stephens said. “But I’ve heard some comments that employees who have been here a long time feel betrayed since they signed their loyalty statement when they joined OU with the understanding they would be covered, and now the university is not being loyal with them.”

The department has been considering changes and getting feedback since 2009, according to a department email.

The proposed changes are in response to the rising cost of covering retiree medical bills, which increased from $6.3 million to $9.2 million between 2008 and 2010, a 46 percent increase, according to a press release. At this rate, costs will increase 250 percent in 10 years, reaching $26 million spent on benefits in 2020.

The rising costs were attributed to the growing number of retirees, which grew 16 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to the release.

With health care policy headed to the Supreme Court and the changing economy, the department will continue to evaluate its retirement policy regularly, Hilburn said.