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BACKGROUND: The County provides employees with comprehensive benefits including <br /> health, dental, life insurance and access to an Employee Assistance Program. The County has <br /> been self-funded since January 1, 2014 for medical and pharmacy plans and continues to be <br /> self-insured for the dental plan. The County pays an administrative fee and all claims incurred <br /> by members enrolled in the United Healthcare and Delta Dental programs. The United <br /> Healthcare administrative fee of$143.53 per member per month includes stop-loss coverage <br /> of$100,000 per person. <br /> Further, the County is currently transitioning from a twelve-month calendar plan year to a <br /> twelve-month fiscal plan year, July 1 through June 30. Therefore, a one time, six-month plan <br /> year was implemented effective January 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015. A twelve-month plan <br /> year will begin July 1, 2015 and end June 30, 2016 to align with the County's fiscal year. <br /> In February 2015, the Health Insurance Advisory Committee, under the direction of County <br /> Purchasing Agent David Cannell, participated in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for <br /> the selection of a Broker of Record for the administration of benefit programs which include but <br /> are not necessarily limited to health, dental, vision, and other voluntary programs for <br /> employees and retirees. The Manager recommended, and the Board of Commissioners <br /> approved, the selection of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) as the Broker of Record at the <br /> March 3, 2015 regular meeting. <br /> Overall, enrollment numbers for the six-month benefit period which were effective January 1, <br /> 2015 have remained consistent, with a slight decrease in the High Deductible Health Plan <br /> membership compared to FY 2014/15. The number of employees waiving health insurance <br /> coverage has increased primarily due to employees obtaining coverage elsewhere, usually a <br /> spouse's benefit plan. Attachment 1 shows benefits and enrollments as of February 16, 2015. <br /> The County continues to administer voluntary benefit programs including vision coverage, <br /> short term disability, whole life insurance, critical illness and accident insurance available <br /> through the benefit of a payroll deduction. At this time, there are no plans to change the <br /> voluntary benefit programs. <br /> The County will continue to partner with representatives of the UNC Wellness @ Work <br /> program to offer health screenings to all employees. In the fall of 2014, the Health and Human <br /> Resources Departments coordinated flu clinics for employees and Human Resources held two <br /> Breast Cancer Awareness Days for mammograms at UNC Radiology in Hillsborough. Staff will <br /> be working closely with AJG to conduct a feasibility study related to wellness and an employee <br /> clinic. <br /> Health Insurance <br /> Open Enrollment for benefits will be held in April 2015 for coverage effective July 1, 2015 <br /> through June 30, 2016. AJG worked with United Healthcare to obtain utilization data for <br /> medical and pharmacy cost projections for the FY2015/2016 budget. The data incorporated 24 <br /> months of claims utilization including periods of January 2014 through January 2015 (self- <br /> funded) and <br /> January 2013 through December 2013 (fully insured). After a detailed review, AJG is <br /> recommending that the premium equivalent remain the same, with no increase for medical and <br /> pharmacy costs. <br />