Employee Benefit Trust Minutes - 04/24/1998 CITY OF WICHITA FALLS
EMPOYEE BENEF1 S TRUST MEETING
APRIL 24, 1998
Present
Greg Humbach,City Attorney
James Berzina,City Manager
Jim Dockery, Finance Director
Jan Sticklin, Employee Benefits Administrator
Roy Wilson,Personnel
The meeting was called to order by Mr.Humbach,Chair of Employee Benefits Trust, at 2:06 PM.
Jim Dockery made a motion to accept the minutes of the last meeting with no corrections.
Motion was seconded by Jan Sticklin. Motion carried.
Agenda Items:
Financial Statement
Jan Stricklin presented the financial statement with the first item being the Claims Comparison. Claims
paid for the period of 10/01/97 through 03/01/98 were: Dental-$95,926.45 and Medical-$1,397,209.76
for a total of$1,493,136.21 compared to$1,239,914.52 for this same period last year.
The next item on the financial statement was a five year comparison of paid claims. Ms. Stricklin pointed
out that comparing the total figures for this five year period,the Trust is maintaining a total of $2,250,000-
$2,800,000 per year.
Ms. St icklin presented charts showing (period of April 1997 through March 1998) the total amount of
claims submitted and total paid for employee, spouse, and dependent She noted that if we were fully
insured,the Trust would not only pay those charges, but also any administrative fees that the company
might charge. Being self-insured lowers the administrative cost.
Jim Dockery made a motion to accept the financial report as presented. Greg Humbach seconded.
Motion carried.
Discussion of cost sharing comparisons:
At the request of Mr. Berzina and Mr. Dockery,Ms.Stricklin had prepared some comparisons on possible
additional cost sharing by the City and the Employee.. She noted that it had been approximately four
years since the employee share of the premium had been increased for medical benefits and the dental
benefits had not been increased since 1975. After some discussion, it was decided to increase the
employee share of the medical premiums by $3.50 per month per employee and dependent and to
increase the employee share of the dental premium by $1.00 per month per spouse and $2.00 per
month,per dependent unit
Motion was made by Jan Stricklin to accept these increases. Motion was seconded by Mr. Berzina.
Motion carried.
It was then decided that a proposal would be presented to the City Council to increase the Citys share by
$50.00 per employee, per year,to be presented as a part of the next budget Motion was made by Jim
Dockery to present this suggested increase to the Council for approval. Motion was seconded by Mr.
Berzina. Motion carried. It was decided that all increases would be implemented on October 1,1998.
Ratification of Stop Loss:
Ms.Stricklin asked the Committee to ratify the Stop Loss renewal with US Benefits at the same cost and
same provisions as the previous year since there had been no changes in rates or coverage. Motion
was made by Mr. Humbach to ratify the stop loss with US Benefits as presented. Motion was seconded
by Ms.Stricklin. Motion carried.
Mr. Humbach inquired as to the possibility of raising the Retiree premiums. Ms.Stricklin stated that with
most retirees the Trust is secondary to Medicare. She reported that the retiree premiums, at the present
rate,are sufficient to pay the retiree claims. She also noted that the rate charged to retirees on Medicare
is comparable to that of other insurance carriers.
Ratification of Prompt Payment Provider Agreements:
Ms. Stricklin stated that we have over three hundred local providers currently giving the Trust discounts,
either through discount agreements or through the Texoma Total Care network She then presented the
new Beechstreet HealthSmart agreement which administers discounted services from providers from
across the country. Under this agreement,the Trust pays Beechstreet 28%of the discount amount they
arrange for the Trust If there is no discount arranged,then we pay nothing to Beechstreet Motion was
made by Mr. Humbach to ratify these prompt pay arrangements. Motion was seconded by Mr. Berzina.
Motion carried.
Old Business:
Ms. Stricklin discussed the previous approval of new computer terminals purchased for the Employee
Benefit Trust office. The terminals have been purchased and should be in place in the near future.
Ms.Stricklin stated that the PSA and Mammogram screenings are currently being conducted and the
process is going very well. Over three hundred PSA's and Mammogram screenings have been
processed at this point She then stated that the Flu shots would continue in the future.The requests
for proposals will be mailed in May to optometrists and ophthalmologists for discounted exams.
New Business:
There being no new business,the meeting was adjourned at 3:01 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jan Stricklin
Employee Benefit Trust Administrator