Insurance Committee Minutes

INSURANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

JULY 30, 2007

1:30 P.M.

Members Present: Debora McCormick, Clerk’s Office; Angie Cozart & Ted Lakey, Administration; DJ Meadows, E911; Connie Brown, Engineering; Chuck Hatcher, Parks/Recycling; Rodney Tyus, Maintenance; Mary Wierman, Property Appraiser; Renee’ Scurlock, Emergency Management; Chief Tony Wesley, Fire Rescue; Wanda Biggs, Building; Lennetta Greene, Human Resources; Nancy Odom, Tax Collector; Dewanna Smith; Community Development; Stan Littleton, Library; and Michael John Milton, Agent of Record.

Guest speaker: Jim Kelly of Blue Cross & Blue Shield & Laura Fortino Area Representative.

Meeting began at 2:00 p.m. with the above members present.

Ms. Greene welcomed members and turned the meeting over to Jim Kelly of Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Mr. Kelly advised the committee of the “Retiree Program” benefit that will be offered as of October 1, 2007. This will be a program offered to employees at the age of 65 who are retiring. It will be a Group Medicare benefit that will include a prescription drug benefit. The rate will be $146.00 monthly with a $100 deductible, $1,000 out-of-pocket expense, a mail order prescription program or a $10/$30/$50 prescription program; the co-payment will be $10 for primary care and $25 for specialist care. The program is funded by the Federal government at 60%. The client must have Medicare parts A & B in order to receive the insurance benefit.

Current renewal rate is 11.29%. Our claims were up 11% this year. Mediscript (Blue Choice 120) for the employee is going to $552.58 monthly - family is $767.12

Blue Options 1150 ($7/20/35 RX & $100 + 20%) Single will be $458.39; family will be $635.03

Mr. Kelly discussed an Alternative Plan that can be offered to employees and their families. It is called a Health Savings Account (HSA). This type of coverage is tax-free. It works like a debit card in that there will be money put into a savings account for health care costs only and when you go to the doctor or get a prescription the debit card can be used until the funds are exhausted. The employee can put money into the account monthly and any funds in the account left at the end of the year will roll-over to the next year. The maximum amount that can be put into the account during a fiscal year is Single $2,900/ Family $5,800.

The alternative plan is Blue Options 1168 (Single) 1169 (Family). The deductible is $2,100 (Single) and $4,200 (Family) Out-of-pocket is $2,100 (Single) and $4,200 (family). Lifetime maximum is $5 million. Note: the current out-of-pocket is $2,500. Money that is spent on prescriptions will count toward the CYD, as it is currently those charges do not count toward the CYD. The HSA is NOT a flexible spending account. It is an IRS approved plan and will be administered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

This savings account will belong to the employee and will go with the employee when they leave employment. When the total reaches $2,500 the employee may invest monies over that.

Routine physical examinations will continue to be paid at 100%.

Mr. Kelly mentioned the Pro-Share plan that we had back in 1999. The committee did not take any action on this.

Stan Littleton made the motion to present to the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, August 1, 2007 the current plans with the increase in premiums along with the addition of the HSA. Also, to find out what the amount would be that the County would put into the HSA per employee and if they will be picking up the increase for those who choose to remain on the current plan. The motion was seconded by Rodney Tyus and voted on unanimously by committee members.

Ms. Greene said that we would meet again after the Board of Commissioners decides how it will handle the new insurance premiums.

The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

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INSURANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

FEBRUARY 28, 2007

2:30 P.M.

Members Present: Debora McCormick, Clerk’s Office; Renee’ Scurlock, Emergency Management; Chief Tony Wesley, Fire Rescue; Lucretia Farris & Daniele Pippin Finance; Lennetta Greene & Elena Stackowicz, Human Resources; Sherry Brown & Nancy Odom, Tax Collector; Dewanna Smith; Community Development; Vicki Farris, Supervisor of Elections; Linda Cowan, Sheriff’s Dept; Alan Barber, Library; and Michael John Milton, Agent of Record.

Guest speaker: Jim Kelly of Blue Cross & Blue Shield & Laura Fortino Area Representative.

Meeting began at 2:40 p.m. with the above members present.

Ms. Greene welcomed members and turned the meeting over to Jim Kelly of Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Mr. Kelly advised that members should be receiving a new insurance card in the near future. It will look like a credit card and the benefit information will be on the back of the card. Doctor’s offices will be able to swipe the card and get information on allowed benefits, co-payments and 2 years of claims history. There are privacy restrictions in that diagnosis such as AIDS, abortions, etc will not be provided. Should a member wish to have no diagnosis available for review they will be able to call and request that the information be blocked.

Blue Cross has begun sending out “Personal Health Reports”.

Mr. Kelly passed out the current monitoring report for our group (Feb 2006 – Jan 2007). He stated that currently there is a 12% health care trend.

The Estimate of Benefits (EOB’s) are being revised by a committee and should be easier to read once the new design is adopted.

In the upcoming renewal year (October 1, 2007) there will be a new benefit for retirees that are 65 and older. They will be able to leave the current group and move into a Group Medicare Supplement, which is targeted to be $200.00 per month. This amount will also be available to the covered spouse of a retiree. NOTE: should the retiree be under 65 years of age, they will continue to be under the Board of County Commissioner’s Group. The current total a retiree pays is $484 for single coverage and $642 for family coverage.

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