Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 21
>> 21, consider and take appropriate action on the following employee benefit items for fiscal year 2012: a, recommend award of contract to cigna for the following 100% voluntary employee paid coverages to be effective October 1, 2011.
1, supplemental life insurance and matching ad and d insurance: ad and d stands for.
>> accidental death and dismemberment.
>> > two dependent life insurance.
three, additional spouse life insurance.
four, retiree life insurance, five, short-term disability, six, long-term disability, and a-7, employee and dependent voluntary ad stand stand alone product currently underwritten by cigna.
let's cover a.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioner.
cindy peerington, Travis County human resources.
we went out for bid on these voluntary products and as you can tell it's getting very close to open enrollment.
so we're pleased to be able to bring this to you.
what we're asking for today is the award of the contract.
the contract will actually come back from purchasing, the actual contract will come back from purchasing when it's prepared, but we would like you to approve the award of these products to cigna.
we did an r.f.p.
we had a good response probably about 15 responders.
we evaluated all of those and cigna gave the best value to our employees, since these are employee-paid products.
you will notice in the worksheet that's attached that savings for the employees vary from over 20% to 15, 16 percent on almost every product.
they were able to also offer an enhancement on the retiree life insurance so the older retirees, the over 71 retirees now have a buy-up option.
before they were limited to five thousand dollars' worth of life insurance and now they have a buy-up option which I think they will be very excited about.
also under the dependent life insurance, domestic partners will now be able to be included in the domestic -- in the dependent life insurance coverage, which they've always been excluded before.
so we feel like that was a significant enhancement for our employees, kind of bringing the family more together so to speak.
so what we would like is an approval of awarding the contact to cigna and again purchasing will come back when the contract is ready with the actual contract.
>> so the bottom line for employees is that we think we got you a better deal.
>> we definitely got them a better deal.
we were not unhappy with our current carrier, but that's the reason you bid things out sometimes is, you know, competition brings good results sometimes.
so we definitely got a better deal for the employees.
>> right.
>> move approval of a-1 through a-7.
>> second.
>> item 21.
>> discussion?
>> thank you for being so progressive and so on.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
21-b, renew basic 50,000-dollar life insurance and ad and d cover wj with unum effective October 1, 2011.
this is 100% county paid.
that's why I move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
21-c, renew administration contract for flexible spending account and qualified transportation benefit with fringe benefit management company, a division of wageworks.
this is a county paid administration fee.
also.
>> yes, sir.
there is no rate increase on this item.
they are holding the rate this year for deflects in the qtb administration.
>> discussion?
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion on the motion?
>> their administration has been great.
I've seen a real difference in our -- from our previous contract to this one.
>> they did offer a flexible spending card for employees so that was new.
there have been a few bumps in the administration over the last year as far as people submitting -- having to submit duplicate follow-up documentation, but we're working through that with the company so we are recommending renewal with them for another year.
>> it's performance giern tease to us for this -- guarantees to us for this coming year.
>> good.
>> do we have a good indication of exactly what kind of documentation they expect to see?
>> yes, sir werks do.
they've also offered to come in and do some training sessions in the early part of open enrollment.
so anybody that's unclear about what they're supposed to send they can become more clear.
we're going to load more clear information on our website as well for information because that has been part of the problem is they don't know when to send it or what exactly they're supposed to send.
I think there's been a bit of a learning curve there.
we're going to try to enhance that documentation if we can so everyone can understand.
>> the main issue surrounds use of the debit card and having to submit backup to support use of the card.
and that's what the training is going to be about.
and the performance measures.
>> so in your view the simple explanation of backup is what?
>> is the prescription, if you went in and you got your prescription filled and used your debit card, it automatically provides the backup to fbmc.
if you buy something over the counter, you have to submit that because it doesn't automatically go to fbmc to support your use of the card.
>> or if you go to a doctor's office.
>> or a dental visit.
you have to submit your receipt from the visit to support use of the card.
>> we would recommend that every time you use your card you save that receipt.
just get a nice folder there and you have it in case you need it.
>> but if you pay the co-pay in cash the receipt that you get is pretty simple.
it does show the place you visited, the amount you've paid and most of the time there's written on there co-pay.
>> right.
>> so is that sufficient?
>> yes, sir, it is.
>> should be.
>> yes.
>> okay.
I'll let y'all know within a week --
>> [ laughter ] any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
with Commissioner Eckhardt temporarily off the dais.
thank y'all very much and thank you for your patience.
I know you wanted to learn a bit more about water and lcra.
>> [ laughter ]
>> absolutely.
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