[Vpaaetal] Your Benefits

[vpaaetal@TAMU-Commerce.edu]

Why would we as university employees NOT want to spend extra money to get 
nothing?  The system has modeled this strategy for us in many ways.

Steve

At 04:03 PM 9/29/2004, you wrote:
>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
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Steve Ball
Department of Psychology
Texas A&M University - Commerce

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

                                 -- Hunter S. Thompson

"After all, odd behavior may signify nothing more than an unfamiliar 
purpose -- say, a religious purpose -- from which standpoint that behavior, 
odd to the ignorant observer, makes perfectly clear sense."

                                 --  David Shapiro, 1989

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