County Budget review and analysis. Can you help?

[Bob Orts]

Rob, as mdd7000 and critterlover mentioned, lots more info is needed to even begin gauging coverage for that cost. A call to a benefit administrator for government self insured plans said it could range from $100 a month to over $1,000 a month per covered person depending on the benefits the employer are covering under that cost. And, the question of continuation coverage (retires, DI, entitlements, etc) also comes up.

She said it's not uncommon for larger self insured or self funded plans to have a single fiscal appropriation (one line item) that actually covers multiple forms of coverage. A typical small to medium company may have health insurance through one company; short term or long term disability from another, prescription coverage from another, and dental or optical from another. Even active versus retired health coverage can be separate if that’s how they set it up. Each of those would show as a separate line item because each is being handled, paid and listed separately. But on large single administered plans, they pay one administrator who handles everything, so you see only one line item instead of six.

-ETA- If anyone knows someone who sells health insurance or 401k plans to companies, ask them to run a Larkspur (sp?) search on Hawaii County plans to see what the plan is all about, how many are covered, what it cost, what part of the cost is benefits or administartion or commissions to the seller, and everything else available.

[Obie]

The money is paid into a trust fund that covers state and county employees.The trust fund pays the premiums to HMSA,Kaiser,etc.
I couldn't find a breakout of the actual number of county employees.I did find the total that it covers and it does include retirees.
You can find that here:
http://www.eutf.hawaii.gov/

Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund


NOTE A – FINANCIAL REPORTING ENTITY (continued)
As of June 30, 2008, the Trust Fund provided insurance coverage to approximately the following individuals:
Active employees 55,100
Retirees 37,600
Spouses 36,600
Domestic partners 1,000
Dependents under the age of 19 29,500
Dependents between the ages of 19 – 23 who are full-time students 7,600
Disabled dependents 400
Total 167,800

[janet]

I'm confused. Dividing $42,016,380 by 167,888 comes to $250.40. Can the State County's portion of each beneficiary's premium only come to $250 per year?

I know one current StateCounty employee who's part of the premium - for him and his wife - is over $600 per month!

Haven't read any of the budget yet, but I'd say obfuscation is the order of the day.

Thanks for the correction, Obie. I meant to write "County" instead of "State". The wrong appellation doesn't affect the numbers, though.

[Obie]

The $42,016,380 is the amount just from Hawaii county .

ETA

The 167,800 is the total from all of the counties and the state including retirees.The amount collected for 167,800 is $550,767,545 which works out to $3282.28 per year .
I should have pointed out that the 167,800 was for all counties and the state in my first post.

[Rob Tucker]

Last I heard there were approximately 2,200 active county employees but I don't know a precise figure or how many retirees might be involved.

[Obie]

Sort of a guesstimate 12800 in Hawaii county are covered by the county health plan by using the $3282 per and the 42 million.

[David M]

Sooo, seems to me that without the details behind the numbers all we have is a lot of wheel spinning - all questions and no answers. Did the Council get any backup documents that show where the numbers come from? This would be a good place for Emily's friend to jump in with some answers. Bob Orts, anything in your bag of research tools?

If anyone thinks these details do NOT exist, I'd be interested in hearing that rationale.

David

Ninole Resident

[Rob Tucker]

I haven't had too much time for the subject today and am still reading on into the budget.

It does seem rather classic that there's this figure.... right up front and open and it is nearly
incomprehensible.

I'll try to make a call or two tomorrow and see if I can find out the number of employees covered and the number of retirees covered. But I do invite any interested parties to call too. I have a lot of reading to do.

[Bob Orts]

quote:

---

Originally posted by David M

Bob Orts, anything in your bag of research tools?

---

Without going into specific details, it works out to about $425 and change for each covered participant. The participant is the covered employee. Each covered participant may be on a single, couple or a family plan. They are active, retired or covered under statue. There are also several plans they can pick from with the employer contribution portion from $200's to $600's per month. Most of the lower cost plans have the fewest participants.

So the $400ish per employer portion per participant seems about right. I'm sure if someone had the time and energy to put pencil to paper, there may be a few dollars difference, but overall it appears about right.

[David M]

QUOTE from Bob Orts: "Without going into specific details..."

JMHO Bob, but it's the specific details that matter. Somewhere is a documented # of covered participants and a breakdown of who (by category, not name) they are. That # times X$ gets us to the $42Million. If we don't know what # is, then the Mayor can use any $$ and there is no way to question it. This is true not just for medical coverage but every other employee related item.

David

Ninole Resident