Agenda - 04-19-2016 - 6-a - Minutes

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7 1 Health Insurance 2 Almost all full time and part time employees participate in the County's group health insurance 3 plan. As of January 16, 2016, the plan covered 871 employees and 160 County retirees under 4 the age of 65. Enrollment data is detailed in Attachment A. 5 6 Since the County's insurance plan is self-funded, the County uses a third party administrator 7 (TPA) to administer and manage claims. To take advantage of changing market dynamics and 8 services, the County periodically solicits proposals from companies offering TPA services. The 9 County conducted a competitive solicitation this year through its broker and is in the process of 10 negotiating a final contact with the most responsive and qualified provider for FY2016/2017. A 11 recommendation on the identity of the provider is scheduled for consideration by the Board of 12 Commissioners on April 5. 13 14 Based on the initial solicitation results, the County's broker has estimated that total health 15 insurance costs next fiscal year will remain flat or decrease slightly. As a result, no plan design 16 changes are recommended. All covered benefits, co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles are 17 expected to remain the same. 18 19 If the budget for health insurance is decreased, the premium equivalents charged to employees 20 will be adjusted accordingly. Employees currently pay a share of the premium for most of the 21 plan options. Attachment B shows the current monthly and bi-monthly cost share of premium 22 equivalents. 23 24 Dental and Vision Insurance 25 Delta Dental is the County's current dental provider and Community Eye Care provides the 26 County's vision plan. As part of three-year contract, the County will continue providing dental 27 coverage through Delta Dental. The current budget for dental insurance coverage is 28 approximately $320,000 annually. No increase in premium is recommended for FY 2016-2017. 29 In fact, the County will improve the dental plan design by removing diagnostic and preventative 30 services from the annual maximum covered services to promote preventative oral health care. 31 The bi-monthly employee cost share of dental and vision premiums are also provided in 32 Attachment B. 33 34 Other Employee Programs 35 The County will continue to partner with representatives of the UNC Wellness @ Work program 36 to offer health screenings to all employees. In the fall of 2016, the Health and Human 37 Resources Departments coordinated flu clinics for employees, and Human Resources held two 38 Breast Cancer Awareness Days (for mammograms) at UNC Radiology in Hillsborough. See 39 Attachment A for more detail on Employee Wellness Activities and Orange County Sportsplex 40 enrollment. 41 42 Compression Review 43 Compression has been a growing concern among directors and employees and was ranking 44 highly during the Department Director's prioritization of internal needs. Pay compression occurs 45 when the difference between two salary grades or between two employees within the same 46 salary grade is too small without an intentional, reasonable pay policy to explain that difference. 47 A classic example of pay compression occurs when new employees are hired at the same or 48 higher rates as employees who have been employed by the organization for several years. In 49 this case, market rates for certain positions may have advanced beyond the salaries paid to 50 current employees. The organization is compelled to pay market rates to attract well-qualified 51 new employees but does not feel the same pressure to increase the salaries of current