Minutes 09-11-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-Adding the obesity coverage would increase rates by nearly 4%, while only a few would utilize the benefit. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the County solicited bids and Mark Browder said no because this renewal was extremely competitive. He said that if they had stayed with Cigna, they would have seen the same prescription increases. He said that the County has not heard from employees who were positively impacted but only those that were negatively impacted. He said that going to Cigna would have caused a prescription tier interruption. If there is another move, there would be more disruption in the tiers for the employees. Commissioner Jacobs said that he read the employee feedback on page 4 of 14 of the survey and said that this is different than what Mark Browder is saying. He said that there is more involved than just cost. He would like to see if there are other alternatives in January. He said that it seems like service is an issue, regardless of tier disruption. He said that United Healthcare is notorious for bad service. He would like to have a plan to be broader in the examination. Commissioner Jacobs said that he attended a session at NACo about healthcare and it seems that Orange County is not aggressive enough in promoting wellness, which would drive down claims and costs. Commissioner Jacobs clarified that the renewal increase is less than budgeted. He asked if this could be applied to employee benefits. He would like to have this come back as an option. Mark Browder said that one of the ways to apply money is to have money available to fund wellness programs. Nicole Clark said that wellness is one of the areas they hope to use with the focus groups and get feedback from the employees. Commissioner Hemminger asked about the cost of a typical bariatric surgery and Mark Browder said that without complications it is $30,000+, but with complications, it can run up to $300,000. It is a serious surgery. Mark Browder said that healthcare reform does not give the flexibility as they have had before. He said that he needs a decision from the Board of County Commissioners no later than early October to keep the County compliant with the law. Nicole Clark said that one change is for the flexible spending accounts. The cap will be decreased from $5,000 to $2,500 next year. Dependent care is still $5,000. Commissioner Hemminger asked if the survey was given to retirees also. Nicole Clark said that the survey was for active employees only and there were no comments from retirees. There was feedback from retirees in the beginning with the new program last year. Commissioner Yuhasz asked if there was anything the County Commissioners could do to make sure the employees get better service from United Healthcare. Diane Shepherd said that the employees can let Human Resources know if there are problems with the UHC service. Nicole Clark said that staff will be meeting with the account managers on a regular basis with regard to service delivery. Commissioner Jacobs asked if UHC could communicate this directly to employees it would be better. He would like for UHC to be willing to come and do a Q&A with the employees. Commissioner Gordon asked what the retirees have said.