[Vpaaetal] Your Benefits

[vpaaetal@TAMU-Commerce.edu]

The System Employee Benefits Advisory Committee (SEBAC) met on September
29, 2004.  The SEBAC office will send out a summary of the meeting, but I
thought some of you might enjoy a news flash. The agenda item that is
probably of most interest to employees is the possible merger of the A&M
System insurance programs into the ERS plan.

ERS completed its study and concluded that the merger offers no
consequential gain to the ERS, no consequential savings to the taxpayers of
Texas.  However, the merger has some immediate drawbacks for the A&M
System.  There would be some $12 million addition annual costs to the
System, primarily to come up with the difference between the premiums we
have now and the premiums we would have with ERS.  Additional first year
merger costs would be some $7 million dollars.

SEBAC has not been asked to be part of the decision process.  It's not even
clear exactly where the decision will be made, but the best guess is by the
System Executive Committee.  SEBAC decided to put the issue to a vote
anyway, voted not to merge, and then passed a resolution to that effect.
The decision must be made by November 1, 2004.  If you have questions or
comments, I will be happy to pass them on.  If you would like to contact
someone at A&M directly, please contact Ellen Gerescher, Employee Benefits
Manager, or Steve Hassell, Associate Vice Chancellor.  Contact information
for both is on the website at   http://sago.tamu.edu.  Be aware, even if
the A&M System votes not to merge, the legislature could still mandate it.

I'm pleased to report that the A&M medical plans are some $8 million in the
black as of August, 2004.  So we start the new academic year on a good
note.  But remember, we did not raise premiums or cut coverage this year.
Medical inflation alone can easily eat up millions. Remain calm, happy, and
healthy.

Other discussion topics included our new disease management programs,
whether we should cover pregnancies of benefit-eligible dependent daughters
and granddaughters, consumer directed health plans, and importing drugs
from Canada.  (Since the FDA has ruled the latter to be "absolutely
illegal," we were not able to take much action, but we vented a lot.)  If
you have questions about the discussion on these topics, please contact me.


Scott Downing, Interlibrary Loan/Distance Education Librarian
Texas A&M University-Commerce
ph  903 886-5741
fax 903 886-5723
scott_downing at tamu-commerce.edu