SJDCTA Health Care costs meeting -- 31 May 2005
Notes
http://sjdcta.deltacollege.edu
West Forum. May 31, 2005 2:35pm - 4:00pm

  • Led by Joe Gonzales, President, SJDCTA. Attended by CTA members, CSEA Leadership and members.
  • Health care costs for 2005/06 will increase an average of 14% for all (24% for retirees, 8.4% for active employees)
  • Total amount of money available for health care is determined like this:

    10% of CCFS331 costs
    - Retirees costs
    = N

    N/600 employees=Amount available for each employee for health care.
    Amounts above N/600 are the responsibility of the active employees.

    More details on CCFS, etc...
  • Question? Since retirees aren't CTA members, how/why are their costs included? Same for management and CSEA.
  • Retirees are being used by Central Valley Trust (CVT) as a wedge issue.
  • We don't have a "claims history", except from CVT data (which is not redily available to us). We need this history to talk to other insurers.
  • A "MediGap analysis" is needed. We need to document the people in our group, their ages, and their dependents, then use this data to get quotes from others. The "History" is not as important as the insurance brokers say. Blue Shield is said to provide a better "MediGap" plan than Blue Cross.
  • Dental and Vision will not be handled by CVT in the coming year. This should cost less, even if the District has to employ someone to oversee the work.
  • We should expect to see a $100/mo. premium, to be paid out of a IRS Section 125 Flexible Spending Account (FSA), to start in Sept 2005. These will be pre-tax dollars, in an account that would belong to you. (More info: IRS Publication on FSAs... )
  • The Administration wants to open up negotiations on health care, and the entire contract, now. Specifically, they want the "free benefits" clause to disappear. And, "life time" benefits to disappear. Opening up negotiations is non-starter for CTA. To "guaranty" life-time benefits (and also forego the COLAs of the next two years) faculty might want to retire by 6/30/2005.
  • Costs savings are available in the current system, for example:
    Former employees, now deceased, have had premiums paid for their health insurance by the District.
  • Management retirees are included with all the retirees.
  • The Admin could unilaterally impose these costs on us, but this would trigger a lawsuit from CTA.
  • Some districts now include the costs of all benefits into the salary schedule for employees, and this raises the STRS stipend in retirement. There are downsides to this approach as well, but these weren't presented.
  • So far, all Admin $ have been estimates, and wildly wrong.
  • Our current setup, with no "opt-out", and no cafeteria-style personal accounts, brings the most members into the insurable group, and provides the largest amount of $ to cover the largest range of people.
  • There is a new CTA Retiree's Group (more info: CTA Retirees' web... )
  • Premiums are paid by the district in "this fiscal year", but the cost share is figured "next fiscal year". In 2004/05, there is a cost overage of about $100/mo per employee.
  • There are about 34 faculty eligible to retire before fall 2005. There are about 16 CSEA eligible to retire before fall 2005. If all 50 of these people retired, the impact on the group would be more cost, as these people move into the more expensive insurance class.
  • Our average age is 55 years, vs. 41 years CVT-wide. This is not to our advantage when looking for coverage. Also, with all school employees getting older, CVT is serving an aging workforce.
  • Retirees are encouraged to use Medicare (which provides excellent coverage), and move out of the District's insurance program as soon as possible.
  • Open enrollment for Kaiser and 4 CVT plans will occur in Sept or Oct 2005, as per normal.
  • Amost any change in insurance will require a vote of the CTA membership.
  • It was pointed out that the 24% annual increase for retirees is not sustainable.
  • The SJDCTA negotiations team needs to work early and hard on the health care issue.
  • There are COLAs expected in 2005/06: 4.73% and 2006/07: 3.4% Consider this when decided the best time to retire.
  • When will the average age skew lower at Delta? No one knows.
  • There are too many unknowns to guess the cost share for employees in 2006/07.
  • There is a feeling that CVT's numbers "don't add up".
  • Meetings on health care need to include CTA, CSEA, Management and the Police, since all are affected.
Compiled by Steve Schermerhorn