Faculty
Council
Retirement and
Fringe Benefits Committee
Meeting
Minutes
Student Union,
room 419
Attending: Roy Achemire,
The
meeting was called to order by Sally Henderson at
Dr.
Lawry allowed that he was attending only until
1. Elimination of the one year waiting period
(for retirement contributions) for new hires.
2. Elimination of the age 26 requirement (for
retirement contributions).
Jan
Carlson reported on the details of the Nov. 15 meeting with OSEEGIB
representatives. He provided a set of
the handouts from that meeting which included a tabbed folder of benefit
information and a folder of information concerning the H.E.L.P. program (Health
Education and Lifestyle Planning).
Information from the meeting follows:
It was stated that there were only two
providers available statewide. These
were Health Choice and Pacific Care.
Community Care has pulled out of the western part of
He indicated
that pharmacy cards will be going out about December 8th. The presenter did indicate that there were
problems with the dental plan in that a number of dentists have decided not to
participate. It seems that while
physicians received reimbursement at 54%, dentists received reimbursement of
approximately 73%; however some did not believe that this was sufficient. He
also stated that medical specialists had self-excluded from the plan, believing
they could receive more reimbursement by not participating. He said that if the rate is raised the cost
of the insurance will be increased. He stated that there were more problems in
rural areas where there were limited numbers of health providers.
Health
Choice is coming up with an alternative plan sometime around the
first
of the year to take effect January 2004 which would provide greater
flexibility. The problem with a
proliferation of plans is the as the
healthiest members take advantage of a lower cost plan the remaining members
will have to offset their increased costs with higher expense. When asked what could be done to offset the
rising cost of health care (it appears that Health Choice will be raising its
rate after the first of the year), several options were discussed. These were getting more teachers, especially
in the common schools to enroll. These teachers tend to be younger with fewer
physical problems. Also by encouraging
healthier life styles, however behavior is difficult to change and while
efforts are directed to this they are now as successful as they could be. Another way which is being pursued actively
is to promote the use of generic drugs and to try to get drug companies to
limit or eliminate advertising on the grand scale that is currently being used.
Lionel
Raff updated the committee on his findings concerning the potential population
of health care providers for individuals in the Schaller-Anderson (AKA) “OU
plan”. He stated that the Shawnee Area
Physicians (group), when asked about their knowledge of the plan by either
name, were not aware of it. Dr.
Henderson volunteered to try to meet with Brian Maddy at OU and get more
details about the currently enrolled providers and their method of recruitment.
Dr.
Henderson reported that HR had asked, in the University-wide R&FB meeting,
to expedite their requests for administrative approval of a 457b plan, the
removal of the 1600 hour sick-leave cap and inclusion of adoption, paternity
and maternity leave in the institution’s sick leave, maternity leave and Family
Medical Leave Act policies. The
committee voted to support the SAC’s recommendation to administration
concerning the latter.
Jan
Carlson volunteered to reserve a room for the next committee meeting, to be
held at
There
being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted