From
Lisa Norris, Human Resources Director
Title
Insurance Fund Monthly Review
Presenter
Lisa Norris, Human Resources Director
Recommended Action
Review Only
Analysis
This analysis covers the experience in the Employee Insurance Fund through November 2017:
Employee Insurance Fund Summary (Attachment 1):
The Insurance Fund is showing volatility as we close out the plan (calendar) year, and begin our fiscal year 2017-2018. Active claims reached $921,073 in October, and then bounced to $1,374,976 in November. December numbers are not yet in and won't be available until mid-January. With this volatily, predicting a year-end estimate is difficult. Additionally, all of the major plan changes become effective January 1, 2018 which will definately impact our year-end balance. Retiree claims hits $331,375 in October and $405,708 in November. These large claim months are not unusual at calendar year-end as people are trying to get all services for the year "buttoned-up" as we all prepare to enter brand new plans, deductibles, and plan changes, as well as gaining control of non-network Emergency Room. I suspect December will continue that trend and then it will be interesting as to what the remainder of the year holds. Using normal projection methods, and not yet accounting for ANY plan changes or premium changes beginning January 1, 2018, our year-end Operating Imbalance (blue column, row 40) is only -40,531.
Enrollment was interesting for January and delivered unexpected high enrollment in the HSA for a first-year rollout. Typically, enrollment is expected at 7-10%. I believe the success of enrollment can be attributed to the extensive communication efforts from Human Resources and Marketing on benefit materials. Enrollment numbers reflected on the last attachment (6):
Besides medical plan and benefit changes, employees also had changes to dental. Based on proposals received, our carrier changed from Metlife to Cigna for Dental PPO and Dental HMO plans. QCD, a simple discount plan only, remained in tact. This journey has been difficult, but necessary, for staff and for our employee family. With staff turnover, incoming new staff to be trained, and new plans, processes, procedures, carrier setup, etc...the road has been challenging, but we are making headway. I expect this first year to be bumpy with the new plans, as we will all be learning as we go. Human Resources continues to seek new tools and resources to help connect our employees with benefit answers and knowledge.
Slides 2-5 reflect normal UnitedHealthCare plan performance that you have seen each month prior. Again, we can study them, but there is so much change coming, I think it is inefficient to try to predict what the future holds at this point or become too concerned about trend - we are too "green" in the year. At our February meeting, I should have an idea of any large claimants over $400,000 to determine if we want to again reimburse ourselves from stoploss.
Financial Consideration
The current budget is approved and no financial consideration is necessary at this time until additional claims data based on future months can be reviewed.