HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

AUDIT & HUMAN SERVICES BUDGET REFORM COMMITTEE

February 03, 2003 Hearing Room 50

3:00 pm Tapes 14 & 15

MEMBERS PRESENT: Rep. Ben Westlund, Chair

Rep. Steve March, Vice-Chair

Rep. Alan Bates

Rep. Jeff Kruse

Rep. Jeff Merkley

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Rep. Randy Miller

Rep. Susan Morgan, Vice Chair

GUEST MEMBERS: Rep. Laurie Monnes Anderson

Rep. Gordon Anderson

STAFF PRESENT: Rick Berkobien, Committee Administrator

Kelly Fuller, Committee Assistant

ISSUES HEARD: Informatioal - Invited Testimony Only

Rocky King, Insurance Pool Governing Board

“Private Market Health Insurance, Employer Sponsored Insurance –Family Health Assistance Insurance Program & Insurance Mandates”

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#	Speaker		Comments
Tape 14, A
006		Chair Westlund	Calls meeting to order 3:13pm and introduces Rocky King, Administrator for the Insurance Pool Governing Board and opens the informational meeting.
INFORMATIONAL MEETING
015		Rocky King	Re-introduces himself and gives an overview of his presentation, answers questions from the previous day of testimony and begins presentation. (EXHIBIT A 1/28/03)
065		Chair Westlund	Asks if the employer puts 2k in your MSA, does that money follow you.
070		King	Responds yes, and give more detailed explanation.
091		Rep. Bates	Asks if MSA’s are also know as cafeteria plans.
093		King	Answers questions about cafeteria plans and MSA’s.
095		Rep. Kruse	Asks what is the difference is between an MSA and a cafeteria plan.
096		King	Responds and defers to Peggy Anet, from the Health Insurance Association of America.
098		Rep. Merkley	Comments and elaborates his knowledge about these plans.
104		Peggy Anet	Gives an explanation of a cafeteria plan.
134		Rep. Kruse	Gives his clarification on what he has heard to this point and asks if he is correct.
143		Anet	Elaborates to give a better understanding of the plans.
160		Rep. Kruse	Comments that it sounds more like a defined contribution than a defined benefit.
163		Anet	Gives more explanation to make the topic more clear.
177		Chair Westlund	Asks for them to continue to explain, as this is unclear.
179		Anet	Continues to explain.
192		Rep. Merkley	Gives comments about his personal experience about a cafeteria plan.
210		Chair Westlund	Makes comments to Rep. Merkley to clarify his experience on his cafeteria plan.
217		Rep. Merkley	Continues to explain his personal experience.
226		Anet	Responds and follows up on Rep. Merkley’s comments.
236		Rep. Kruse	Gives an analogy to make sure he is clear in his understanding.
254		Anet	Continues to try to make these plans more clear.
270		Rep. Kruse	Expands on his analogy.
283		Anet	Expounds about coverage and benefit plans.
306		Rep. Kruse	Comments that he understand that as this is getting more sophisticated and complicated most companies offering cafeteria put a floor on it, saying you have to take the basic benefit package, but you will have some options.
322		Chair Westlund	Makes additional comments about the plans discussed above.
332		Rep. Anderson	Asks if there is a floor of protection there, but if someone used all the dollars available would he have the chance to come back in and buy the basic care. Does he have the right to come back in and get the most basic that he needs.
337		Anet	Responds to Rep. Anderson with an answer to his question.
345		Rep. Anderson	Asks then if you are over the amount that you are originally allotted, the employee has to pay or the employer picks up the costs of the extra.
367		Rep. Kruse	Can you mix and have employee and employer contributions to MSA.
393		Anet	Comments about mixing contributions.
411		Rep. Kruse	Asks if an employer and employee can both contribute to a cafeteria plan, and elaborates his comments.
TAPE 15A
008		King	Gives an analogy for more defined detailed explanation.
045		Anet	Comments on what she thinks is confusing folks and offers to come up with something that will help with clarification.
050		Rep. Kruse	Asks what are the changes that will happen to the MSA’s.
053		King	Responds to the question about changes to MSA’s.
062		Anet	Makes comments about her experiences as a benefit manager.
065		Rep. Kruse	Comments that he is excited about removing the caps on MSA’s.
066		Rep. Merkley	Asks if you do not use your money does the employers get to keep it.
077		Anet	Gives clarification about employers keeping the money.
080		Rep. Kruse	Comments that the employee will get some benefit, but it is aggregate and hard to define.
083		Anet	Comments about never seeing an employer do an individual distribution of the left over assets.
085		Rep. Kruse	Gives clarification of what he said and comments that if it rolls back in to finance the next year it is going to lower the costs, but it is in aggregate and so it would be hard for an employee to see what he was getting.
092		King	Comments about the left over money.
100		Rep. Merkley	Makes comments about related experiences.
111		Rep. Bates	Comments about all of these plans.
128		King	Comments about an article that he has provided.
136		Chair Westlund	Comments and talks to Rep. Bates and other members about these plans.
146		Rep. Bates	Agrees with Rep. Westlund and elaborates.
155		King	Begins presentation on the Family Health Insurance Assistance Program (FHIAP). Page 52 of (EXHIBIT A 01/28/03)
315		Rep. Anderson	Asks what the definitions of CMMS.
318		King	Gives definition of (CMMS) is Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services and continues presentation.
TAPE 14 B
001		Rep. Monnes Anderson	Asks what that 5 percent was costing us.
004		King	Answers about the 5 percent.
012		Rep. Kruse	Assuming you are covering 20 thousand people, you are talking about 200 folks who were enrolled that should not have been that got weeded out
014		King	Answers about how those that shouldn’t be enrolled get weeded out and continues presentation.
026		Rep. Kruse	Asks if the audit has to be a random audit.
031		King	Comments and continues about random audits.
040		Rep. Kruse	Do you have a sense of how many, if you were not requiring tax returns, do you think they would still be able to catch the folks that should not be there.
046		King	Answers about catching the folks that should not be there and continues presentation.
187		Rep. Kruse	Asks if what you are needing considerably different than what workers comp requires.
190		King	Not sure what workers comp requires.
195		Rep. Kruse	Comments and relates personal experience forms and etc.
198		King	Makes comments and continues program.
322		Rep. Monnes Anderson	Asks if it is true even though you can get free immunizations through your local public health departments.
326		King	That is true in 90% of the state. Continues presentation.
368		Rep. Kruse	Would you advocate for more flexibility than 50-50 in group and individual plans.
370		King	Answers questions about more flexibility in group and individual.
372		Rep. Kruse	Comments that if we get Medicaid match it will change.
377		King	Can you wait on this question, I will get to that soon. Continues presentation.
TAPE 15 B
002		Rep. March	Asks if the male and female percentage include children.
006		King	Answers yes and continues.
071		Rep. March	Asks under OMIP do we pay an agent referral fees.
077		King	Yes, and explains the details.
089		Rep. Anderson	Asks if the agents you have trained recently, do they do this as a service for these folks.
095		King	They receive no commission for what they do. Gives details.
104		Rep. Merkley	Asks if everything is a first come first serve arrangement for the waiting list or is there any preference given to those based on their condition.
116		King	Gives details of how the program works on the first come first serve basis.
131		Chair Westlund	Clarify the group verses individual waitlist. Asks what is the dynamic that is creating the waitlist for the group and not the individual.
140		King	Gives clarification about the differences.
176		Chair Westlund	Makes comments about the market. Could you go back to slide 68 and clarify what I am going to pay per month.
192		King	Explains what you will pay on average. See page 43 of the (EXHIBIT A 1/28/03)
210		Chair Westlund	Lists figures for clarification.
215		King	Explains in more detail.
220		Rep. Anderson	Has questions about some advertisements he has seen lately.
235		King	Not sure what the packages are in those advertisements.
239		Rep. Anderson	Asks about national faith based plans and if those plans tend to effect your program.
257		King	Makes his comments about these advertisements.
276		Rep. March	Comment for Rick Berkobien: I would like to look at the budgets in fair detail at a later date. In particular, what is the turn over rate is in this program.
302		King	Responds that he will look into getting the information.
309		Chair Westlund	Makes comments about other qualifying businesses.
320		King	Comments by in large agents will put in large amounts of work to complete applications.
334		Chair Westlund	Questions private sector verses OMIP
353		Rep. Kruse	Makes comments about insurance agents.
400		Chair Westlund	Meeting adjourned 4:52 pm

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Informational, Health Insurance Resource Manual, 368 pp (EXHIBIT A 1/28/03)

B – Informational, The Council for Affordable Health Insurance’s, 2 p