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Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee Minutes March 2, 2012.
Meeting was called to order at 11:30 am in 302 USB.
Members in attendance: Steve Bernholtz, Nancy Davin, Katherine Dudley, Jon Garfinkel, Matthew Glasson, Heather Schnoebelen, Bernard Sorofman, Victoria Sharp, Lynn Vining, Michael Wichman
Members absent: Daniel Katz, Sheldon Kurtz, Katherine Tachau, Anand Vijh
Administrative Officers present: Sue Buckley, Richard Saunders
Guests present: Rick Borchard, Suzanne Hilleman, Debra Hughes, Susan Klatt, Gerald Rose, Julie Sexton, Joni Troester
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Committee members, administration representatives, and guests introduced themselves.
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The minutes of meeting from February 3, 2012, were approved unanimously.
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Richard Saunders provided additional demographics about employees with Chip plan as well as a comparison of out of pocket costs for UI Choice and Chip. Remarkable points included:
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Under worst case scenario, single status could potentially pay more with UI Choice at an out of pocket maximum of $4,800 if seen by in and out of state providers (scenario 3) than the CHIP out of pocket maximum of $4,200.
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Under worst case scenario, Employee & Children status could potentially pay more with UI Choice at an out of pocket maximum of $11,784 if seen by in and out of state providers (scenario 3) than the CHIP out of pocket maximum of $8,400.
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For all family status groups UI Choice is less expensive using Level 1 & 2 (scenario 1) and in state providers (scenario 2) than Chip.
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Enrollment was up by 1 for Family election for Chip plan from 2011 to 2012. This is the only status election group that increased in enrollment for the Chip plan.
Eventually enrollment will drop below 100 and the Wellmark will not allow a self funded group to remain open with less than 100 enrollees due to risk. If there was a large deficit not covered by Chip premiums, then by rule of the FRIC committee, premiums can only be increased by 30% annually. Any deficit not covered by a 30% increase in premium would be carried forward to future years and could be transferred over to UI Choice if Chip is closed. It is possible that Chip plan will only have enrolled the Employee & Children status due to the free premium. Over past 5 years enrollment for Chip has dropped from 745 in 2008 to 283 in 2012 and is expected to continue to drop. There is the possibility that a few high dollar claims within Chip could drive premiums up and cause enrollment to decrease dramatically.
Questions asked of the committee:
Do we want to close the Chip program?
Do we want to do a survey of Chip enrollees to see why they are staying in the Chip program?
Potential misconceptions of the Chip program may be contributing to enrollment numbers. One misconception of the Chip program was that Chip plan is a better deal if you are older and have health concerns and want to seek services out of state. A survey was suggested to better understand misconceptions of Chip and better understand how enrollees made their decision. Additionally, more data was request to see how many people auto enrolled for Chip by default election. Richard Saunders informed the group that if healthcare reform passes everyone must enroll or opt out each year starting on 1/1/2014.
The decision was made to perform a phone survey in March.
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Vitamin Coverage
Richard Saunders informed the group he spoke with Wellmark to see how vitamin coverage would work. Wellmark said they have no plans that provide vitamin coverage. There would be a minimum cost of $100,000 annually to get it up and running plus claim charges. Another stipulation was vitamins must be purchased from a pharmacy. In many cases the claim charge would exceed the cost of the vitamin. A motion was made to drop vitamin coverage issue and was seconded. Motion passed.
6. International Insurance
University is moving to international travel insurance to cover faculty, staff & students that travel overseas. Currently there are 1800 faculty/staff and over 4000 student that travel overseas. Existing health coverage is under any of the UI health plans. Proposed coverage would help get claims paid in places that don’t take BCBS overseas for the claimant. Coverage is meant for business trips only and does not extend to vacations. Dependents accompanying the traveler can be added to the coverage. An email will be sent out shortly to campus and a web site is being developed.
7. Complementary Care
Nicole Nisly spoke last year about complementary medicine to the FRIC committee. The hospital is currently researching this to see if they want to set up a more formal program based around complimentary medicine. If they want to proceed, they will make a recommendation for the FRIC committee to consider. Part of the research the hospital is doing involves answering questions like are UIHC physician’s currently prescribing these types of services? Acupuncture and massage therapy are considered complementary medicine and are not currently covered. These are both covered under the health care spending account if patient has a prescription from provider. Richard Saunders commented that as new items are covered under health insurance usage increases.
8. Health Insurance Plans for 2013
Benefits has not received any requests from employees for changes in coverage at this time, this indicates that employee body is generally satisfied with current coverage.
9. The next meeting will take place in April 2012.
10. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.
Recorder: Katherine Dudley