Minutes - 20021021 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Link said that they would reorganize the group that addresses fuel and emergency assistance. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if we know everything that has happened with the State budget. John Link said that the Governor still has to balance the budget. The Governor has already cut $25 million. He does not see any additional big cuts that were not already anticipated. 4. Employee Pay and Benefits a. Employee Health Insurance for 2003 Chair Jacobs said that the Board has to make a decision tonight on employee health insurance for 2003. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes gave a summary of the Employee Health Insurance renewal for 2003 (starting January 1, 2003). She gave a presentation from the yellow handout. There are presently three health plans — Blue Cross Personal Care Plan (PCP) has 497 employees; Blue Cross Preferred Provider Plan (PPO) has 41 employees; and CIGNA has 136 employees. There are some changes initiated by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners' Health Insurance Trust and by Blue Cross. One of the changes is that they are replacing the PCP product with a product called Blue Care and PCP will no longer exist. Blue Care is an HMO model with open access to physicians within the network. There are also some increases in the co- pay for specialists from $10 to $20 and an increase in the prescription drug benefit. There are also changes in the PPO product to Blue Options. This involves an increase in deductibles and co-insurance amounts. There is also an addition of a co-pay with 100% co-insurance after co-pay as opposed to 90% before. CIGNA is changing to an open access plan, increasing prescription drug co-pays, and adding a co-pay for hospital admission and hospital outpatient facility. The three renewal options are as follows: - renew current plan with an increase in Blue Cross of 25% and in CIGNA of 12.55% -renew plans with alternative benefits with an increase in Blue Cross of 16% and in CIGNA of 12.55% -renew with alternative benefits and NCACC Trust as sole provider with an increase in Blue Cross of 13% The first option is closer to the plans that we have now and the increase is due to the general trend in health insurance costs and the County's higher utilization over the past six months. In the past, the County has contributed 100% for the individual employee only coverage and 40% of the cost of dependent coverage based on the Blue Cross PCP rate. Currently, 42% of employees have dependent coverage. If the rates are calculated as usual, the cost increase for these employees would range from $420 to $900 a year. Most of these employees are at salaries below $50,000 and many are at salaries below $35,000. The Manager is recommending that the Board adopt option 1, to renew with Blue Care Plan 1 and Blue Options Plan 1 through the NCACC Trust and continue to offer CIGNA. The Manager also recommends that the Board temporarily increase the subsidy for dependent health insurance for 2003 to 52% based on Blue Care Plan to fully mitigate Blue Cross increase. This would cost an additional $184,000 for fiscal year 2002-03. This is in addition to the 18% increase in health insurance costs that was budgeted. Of this $184,000, $145,000 could be funded using the Employee Pay and Benefits Contingency Fund and the remaining $39,000 could be funded from the new % cent sales tax revenue.