Agenda

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ARF- 1679

Regular Agenda Item 3. E.

Regular BOS Meeting

Meeting Date:	02/19/2013
Submitted For:	Don McDaniel Jr.
Submitted By:	Jacque Griffin, Asst. County Manager/Librarian, Asst County Manager/Library District
Department:	County Manager
Fiscal Year:	2012-2013	Budgeted?:	No
Contract Dates Begin & End:	March 1, 2013 - June 30, 2013	Grant?:	No
Matching Requirement?:	No	Fund?:	Renewal

Information

Request/Subject

Arizona Local Employee Benefit Trust (AZLGEBT) Plan change in initial enrollment period.

Background Information

In 1999 Gila County joined the Arizona Local Employee Benefit Trust (AZLGEBT) Plan for employee insurance coverage. At that time, Gila County had a 90-day initial delay in enrollment requirement with the prior insurance carrier, which was continued forward into AZLGEBT for Gila County. The other five plan partners have a 30-day delay for initial enrollment.

Article II of the Plan Document, under section 2.02 Initial Enrollment: "All new employees will be covered on the first day of the month coinciding with, or immediately following the completion of thirty (30) days of full-time employment (exception: ninety (90) days for Gila County employees) provided proper enrollment has been made and any required contributions have been authorized."

In real terms, this means that an employee who is hired after the first day of a given month could actually have up to a 117-day delay in insurance coverage, depending on the hire date and the number of days in the following months. The other plan partners' employees could have up to a 59-day delay in insurance coverage, depending on the hire date and the number of days in the following months.

Evaluation

This 90-day delay in insurance coverage creates difficulty for the Plan administrators as well as creates unnecessary hardship on new employees. Additionally, The Health Care Reform Act has rules for initial enrollment periods that will limit all employers to under 60 days, beginning in January 2014. The AZLGEBT Plan document meets the new requirements, provided Gila County modifies our delay period to match the plan.

Changing the enrollment period will have the effect of allowing employees to be covered by employee insurance earlier, thereby giving them more timely access to health insurance.

This change will also have a financial impact to the County since it provides employee insurance coverage two months earlier, which would increase the cost of coverage by two months to the tenure of any given employee.
This change will not negatively affect AZLGEBT since the Plan is already calculated using the shorter enrollment period. In speaking with the Plan administrators at Erin Collins and Associates, this change can become effective immediately since it brings Gila County into alignment with the Trust, and does not impact the re-insurance for large claims. By making this change at this time, it will ensure that the Plan documents for next fiscal year will incorporate the change.

Conclusion

Modifying Gila County's initial delay in enrollment requirement from the current ninety (90) days to match the rest of the counties within the AZLGEBT Plan has positive benefits for Gila County, the Trust, and the employees who participate. This change will bring Gila County into alignment with future Health Care Reform requirements, as well as matching the other Trust members' requirements, and allows employees to become eligible for health insurance within an appropriate time frame.

Recommendation

Staff recommends that the initial enrollment period for employee medical insurance be reduced from ninety (90) days to thirty (30) days as outlined in the AZLGEBT Plan document.

Suggested Motion

Information/Discussion/Action to change the Gila County initial enrollment period for employee medical insurance which currently includes a special exception of a ninety- (90) day period to, "All new employees will be covered on the first day of the month coinciding with, or immediately following the completion of thirty (30) days of full-time employment provided proper enrollment has been made and any required contributions have been authorized," to match the Arizona Local Employee Benefit Trust (AZLGEBT) Plan document, effective March 1, 2013. (Jacque Griffin)

Attachments
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