I attended a lengthy meeting Thursday, September 25 in Baton Rouge about the proposed changes in the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) Health plan for state employees. The meeting lasted for about 7 hours and testimony was heard from the Department of Administration (DOA) which oversees OGB, Appropriations Committee members, Representatives and Senators and members of the public. The meeting was called by the Speaker of the House to discuss the changes in the health care program and the reasons for these changes. In 2011 OGB had a surplus of 595 million dollars (used to pay claims) and no problems with claims and payouts. The annual inflation rate was 6% but the surplus was handling it. The state privatized OGB and DOA took over in 2013. The CEO was fired, Advisory Board members were dismissed and around 300 employees were laid off to make room for Blue Cross administration of the plan. Premiums were decreased over the next three years by 9% which drastically cut the surplus to the present day 371 million dollars and projections of down to 8 million by 2015. All of this has led to the proposal of new plans with changes in coverage that include such things as higher premiums, higher deductibles, increased out-of-pocket expenses, doctor and hospital reductions, etc. The Jindal Administration wants to blame The Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), much higher expenses than they had projected and other data manipulations to legitimize the methods they used to deplete the surplus. Although they did not technically sweep the surplus funds for OGB because it is constitutionally protected, by decreasing the premiums by 9% they were able to use the money the state would have paid (75% is paid by state and 25% is paid by members) somewhere else in the budget. There are issues to the legality of this procedure. During a brainstorming session during and after the meeting between legislators the following actions were discussed as possible actions that can be taken to help the situation. 1. File and injunction to halt the implementation of the new plans. 2. Call for a special session to work through the situation. 3. Lawsuits filed by members. 4. Call for an 18% premium increase to be able to keep plans the same as they are now. 5. Reject the Emergency Rule proposed by DOA and use the Administrative Procedures Act that requires review and public comments. 6. Look into other plans not proposed by DOA. 7. State replenish surplus fund. Everyone is working hard to come up with doable proposals to help keep State Workers with a plan as close to what they have now as possible. There will be cost with ACA and general inflation that will need attention but the surplus fund depletion needs to be addressed now. I will continue to try and keep you informed as to the progress of these procedures. All OGB members need to attend meetings being held to discuss the new plans so that they can make the best decision in case nothing can be done to make changes before session in April. Please call my office if you need places and dates for these meetings being held around the state.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:04:28 +0000
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