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

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Sabina Leins: Please look at Section four. This is a Health Reimbursement Account Plan (HRA). You have a $1,000 deductible and a $500 benefit allowance. There are no co- pays with this plan. So, the first $500 that you incur will go to your deductible. But you have got the $500 fund for physicals, doctor visits and etc. It applies to your deductible. There are no physician or office visit co-pays in this plan. After that it is paid on an 80/20 basis. If you don't use your $500 it rolls over into the next year, now you have a $1,000. You have no deductible. However, this is the downside to this plan. If you take employee only coverage and you have a $1,000 deductible and $500 fund. For example, if you take anything other than employee only coverage the deductible becomes an aggregate deductible. There is no longer an individual deductible. Now, in the example below with a $4,500 for employee plus one after the $1,000 before the plan pays anything you are on the hook for thirty-five hundred dollars as a family. So, if you are the only one that is sick you have to meet the entire deductible. It is good for single people. Question Matt Daeumer: Can we change it to an individual $1,000 deductible? Answer Sabina Leins: You cannot. What we can do is make it a $2,000 deductible for an employee plus one. Comment Matt Daeumer: That's still not a good deal. Answer Sabina Leins: That depends, what you got to decide is if your family is going to incur more than a $1,000 worth of expenses in a given year. Comment Karen Beerman: It is a good plan if you are single. I am single. Comments Sabina Leins: What if you incur a $10,000 Claim? Then, everybody is covered. Comment Matt Daeumer: Maybe we should make the family $3,000 and if you have kids $2,000. Comments Sabina Leins: On the back they discuss out-of-pocket. We can play with these numbers. That is your 20% portion. Essentially, the rest of the plan works the same way. It is similar to an HSA. Question Matt Daeumer: What happens to the money I have put the plan if in two or three years we change to another plan? Comments Sabina Leins: It really doesn't have anything to do with Aetna. It depends upon the new carrier and if they have a similar plan that you can roll that into. If they don't you loose your money. Comment Matt Daeumer: I would like to see us look into an HSA.