The Employee Medical Benefits Board held a regular meeting Monday, June 3, 2013 in Meeting Room #1 at the Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT.
THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY EMPLOYEE MEDICAL BENEFITS BOARD
Chairman Mark Mattioli called the meeting to order at 6:15 pm.
PRESENT: Ron Bienkowski, James Loring, Mark Mattioli (Chair), Dan McAloon, Paul Smith, and Donna Van Waalwijk; ALSO PRESENT: Finance Director Robert Tait
VOTER COMMENTS: None
COMMUNICATION: None
ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES: Ms. Van Waalwijk moved to accept the minutes of March 4, 2013. Mr. Smith seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Review Status of Fund: Mr. Tait distributed and reviewed his report as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield’s report. He noted the last two months’ numbers have spiked ($1.25 million in April and $1.147 million in May). The claims to date (including dental) is $10.603 million for the eleven months and projecting $11.6 million for the twelve months, which is close to estimate. The fund balance started out with a balance of $2.3 million and is expecting to have a final balance of $2.5 million. Last year’s claims increased 4.4% with an expected increase this year of 3.5%.
Review Aggregated Claims Experience for March/April 2013: Mr. Tait explained variability in months where claims come in under expected in some months and over in others. April was the worst month for the current fiscal year at 8% over expected claims. There are three new claimants over $87,500 since February although there has been no change in the top three claimants, who are over individual stop loss for a total of $460,000 in excess claims.
Mr. Bienkowski said BOE will have some additional people hired with the SERV federal grant including several mental health positions filled for the next fiscal year. Mr. Tait said the grant will also make an additional contribution to the self insurance fund.
Mr. Mattioli said that post 9/11, a number of insurance companies forgave co-pays for a period of time. He asked if this would be of something to look into in order to help remove any disincentive in seeking services. Mr. Bienkowski said the employee assistance program originally allowed two visits but have recently increased it to eight visits. Other mental health services offered in the schools were done through multiple state agencies and Newtown Youth Services. He said people felt the local services were addressing needs. The health care professionals are being hired to be available to the staff and families.
Review Enrollment Data – it was noted that enrollment should remain consistent.
Review Performance~Guarantee Targets – Mr. Tait expects more information on this at the next meeting.
Communications – Mr. Mattioli asked if changes to the contribution is widely known. Mr. Tait said it is disclosed in financial statements on the Town website. The self-insurance fund is disclosed separately. Mr. Mattioli said the board did a great job with the estimates. All estimates were very close. Mr. McAloon wanted to make sure the funds are protected. Mr. Tait confirmed that they are through the Town charter.
Next Meeting – The next meeting will be rescheduled to September 9th, 2013. It will be posted as a special meeting. The originally scheduled meeting, September 3rd will be cancelled.
Adjournment: Mr. McAloon motioned to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Van Waalwijk seconded the motion which was unanimously approved. The Board adjourned at 7:00 pm.
Respectfully Submitted by Tammy Hazen, Clerk.
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