A recap of Annual Enrollment and a review of the self-insured plans’ year-end financials were the highlights of last month’s System Employee Benefits Advisory Committee (SEBAC) meeting.
Committee members also heard a report on the upcoming Long-Term Care plan changes, revisited the issue of offering identity theft and consumer-driven health plan programs and elected officers.
Ellen Gerescher, employee benefits manager, reported that during the July Annual Enrollment period, all but one A&M System member required most or all employees to enroll electronically—a trend that is allowing human resources staff to spend more time assisting employees and less time processing paperwork. Eighty-four percent of the 13,061 plan changes were made using the online enrollment system.
Although many premium and carrier changes occurred this year, Gerescher said most of the insurance plans experienced only slight enrollment changes from last year. An exception is vision coverage, which had a significant enrollment increase.
Gerescher also reported that during the 2005-2006 plan year, the A&M
System’s self-insured A&M Care health plans experienced a $1.9
million loss. Gerescher noted that the loss and increasing health care
costs are the key reasons for the increased A&M Care premiums for the
current plan year.
The A&M System’s self-insured dental plan, A&M Dental, broke
even during the same period.
Gerescher reminded the committee that John Hancock will be the Long-Term Care (LTC) carrier as of Jan. 1, 2007. To prepare for the transition, the A&M System will offer an LTC enrollment period for employees, retirees and eligible family members beginning Nov. 6 and continuing until the winter break.
Previous Systemwide articles on identity theft include “Why check your credit report?” and “Avoiding identity theft,” both from the March 2006 issue, and “SEBAC to look into legal/identity theft plans…” from the October 2005 issue.
SEBAC members continued from last year their discussion on offering an identity theft program. These programs provide guidance for avoiding identity theft and services to facilitate faster resolution if identity theft occurs.
Gerescher noted that employees have access to identity theft coverage through the Answer Financial program. She also said that the A&M System is scheduled to solicit bids this year on the services provided by Answer Financial.
SEBAC members also continued from last year their discussion on two types of consumer-directed health plans: health reimbursement accounts and health savings accounts. Both types of accounts are designed to help employees save for future health-related expenses.
The System Human Resources Office and SEBAC are working to determine which type of plan would be the most valuable to A&M System employees and how legislation during the next Texas legislative session might affect such plans.
Greg Richmond, human resources officer for the Texas Transportation Institute, was re-elected SEBAC chair and Nancy Granovsky, professor and extension family economics specialist for Texas Cooperative Extension, was re-elected vice chair.
For more information about benefit-related issues, visit the System Human
Resources web site or contact
your Human Resources
office or your SEBAC
representative. 