09-06-07 Chapter 172 Employee Retiree Insurance and Benefits Board Meeting

Browse Search

Comments Michael Dolby: Just remember, that if we have one big claim what could happen, it is a crap shoot. I am not saying you don't have some good ideas; it is just that it doesn't take but one really big claim to put us in the hole. Comments Kathy Clark: One of the other things you had a concern about was mail- order drugs. This comes standard in the Aetna plan. You get three months for the price of two. Comments Robert Swanagan: Remember this, all of the things we are discussing will allow HRH to go out and negotiate these items with Aetna. Question Matt Daeumer: Can we look at dropping down to $5, $10 and $25 on drug co- pays? I think we should look at it just to see if we can afford it. Comments Michael Dolby: Remember, in 2008 we will be dealing with GASB 45 and this board must be prepared to cover that short fall. We don't even know what that amount is going to be. We have observed some high dollar amount being predicted by other cities due to GASB. The preliminary studies seem to be around a million dollars. Discussion 172 members: Robert Swanagan, Sammy how do you think the retirees will feel about this cost structure and the enhancement of the mail order drugs? Response Sammy Jacobs: I think it will be looked at very favorable by the retirees. It is a big step right here. I have no problem with it. Comments Sabina Leins: Somebody asked the question, what do other cities do? Do you guys have that, or do you want us to get that information? All you need to do is tell me which cities you want to be compared with and I will get that information for you. This will give you an idea of what similar cities are doing. Next thing, on page three it talks about durable medical equipment. Aetna says there is an annual maximum of $10,000 which includes walkers, wheel chairs, oxygen, prosthetics and etc. You might want to raise it to at least $20,000 because the average cost for prosthetics is $20,000. Comment Sabina Leins: One of the things you will have a lot of questions about is the drug formularies. Whenever you have a change of carriers some drugs will change tiers. That is the nature of the beast. Sabina Leins: Let's talk about the PPO 500 Plan. Comments Matt Daeumer: When you look at this plan it is not a very good deal at all. This is the worst plan of them all. All of the co-pays are higher in the PPO 500 and you are paying a higher out of pocket. This is something we need to educate our employees about. Also, we do need to look at co-pays for this plan. I would keep the Office Visits the same.