Minutes 05-10-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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larger than 25 or smaller than 11 members. The proposal is to change the governance type to more of the governance model of the board of the hospital. It would be a much smaller board and there would still be the opportunity for local appointment to sit on the board. This is not in place yet. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the number of counties because he only saw a few and Judy Truitt said that there are 15. Commissioner Jacobs said that this needs to be reflected in the information. He said that Orange County is the most progressive in this 15 county governance and asked why they did not try to engage a county such as Durham County. Judy Truitt said that when they began exploring options, PBH was the only entity in the State that was managing a waiver setting. She said that they did not deliberately exclude Durham, but went in the direction that was presented to them by PBH. Commissioner Jacobs requested information on the total population in OPC of the pool of clients. Judy Truitt said that the combined population of 15 counties will be 1,390,224. The Medicaid eligible population will be 193,391. The population is what most people feel is the best size for a waiver setting. 3. Employee and Retiree Health Care Coveraqe Frank Clifton said that they are not here to make a decision but for purposes of discussion. He made reference to the last page of the abstract, page 18. He said that the employee salaries and wages are about 31% of the General Fund budget. The retirees are having a large impact on the budget because of dependent coverage. He is not asking the Board to rush decisions, but health insurance costs are not going down and they need to make decisions about how to manage those costs. There are now 271 retirees, with another 80 that are eligible to retire. Interim Human Resources Director Katherine Cathey introduced Benefits Manager Diane Shepherd and Mark Browder from the consulting firm Mark III. She said that the materials show the County's recent health insurance history, a summary of benefits provided by other local governments, results from a recent employee survey, options for lowering health care costs, and a fiscal year 2010-11 budgeted costs for salary and benefits. Orange County faces increased costs in health insurance due to national increases as well as Orange County's specific situation. The increases are compounded by the fact that NCACC has given generous renewal rates over the last couple of years and the fact that Orange County provides insurance for retirees. Orange County employees receive generous benefits and have health and dental benefits that are better or equal to other jurisdictions in North Carolina. Overall, employees are very satisfied, with the exception of the County contribution to 401(k) or 457, which is not competitive. Employees are concerned with deteriorating benefits as costs increase. Based on the survey done in April, employees who do not have the dependent subsidy are in favor of seeing that disappear. The actual increase in health insurance is anticipated to be 25% or higher, so the County may have to make difficult decisions about how the costs are shared. Diane Shepherd made a PowerPoint presentation. Agenda Item #3 Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) •Preventive care is 100% covered •The employee (or dependent) pays a fee (Co-Pay) for all office visits and prescriptions