[Vision2020] ID Public Records Law: UI Health Insurance

[lfalen]

Who are the membrs of HBT? Keep up the good work.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Rosemary" donaldrose at cpcinternet.com
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:14:43 -0700
To: "'Saundra Lund'" v2020 at ssl.fastmail.fm, "'Moscow Vision 2020'" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] ID Public Records Law:   UI Health Insurance

> Visionaries:
> 
>  
> 
> Saundra has succinctly outlined the issues that concern us regarding health
> insurance at the University of Idaho. When Saundra explained to me the
> difference in premium cost between the UI and other higher education
> institutions in this state I was appalled.  We have all watched in dismay as
> the University of Idaho suffered because of the poor, indeed criminal,
> leadership decisions in the last decade.  Sure, some of the jackasses
> responsible have sauntered into the sunset - or in Bob Hoover's case
> inexplicably into a better paying position at a private college in the state
> - without a backward glance or guilty twinge at the carnage they created and
> then happily left behind. Not all the miscreants vanished in 2003. So,
> naturally, when I learned that the premiums paid by UI employees for health
> insurance coverage go into a pool called the Health Benefits Trust with sole
> oversight under the direction of four UI employees, I get a sinking feeling.
> 
> 
>  
> 
> "11. HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN AND HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST Any person with a sense
> UI history should hear the bells ringing like a four alarm fire when they
> learn:
> 
>  
> 
> The University of Idaho ("University") is self-insured for the health
> insurance benefits it provides to employees and retirees. In June, 2007, the
> University established an affiliated but independent trust for the purpose
> of funding and paying its medical, mental health, dental and vision claims
> and their
> 
> associated administrative costs under its health insurance plan for both
> active and retired employees. This trust, known as the University of Idaho
> Health Benefits Trust ("HBT"), was established as a tax-exempt entity under
> Section 115(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. TheHBT is
> administered by a board of four trustees who are members of the University's
> active staffand faculty. The HBT is maintained in an independent trust
> account established with U.S. Bank.
> 
> This trust account is maintained under the sole control of the HBT board of
> trustees."
> 
>  
> 
> and
> 
>  
> 
>  "NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
> 
> JUNE 30, 2008 AND 2007
> 
> Payments under the HBT are initiated via electronic request by University
> personnel on a weekly basis based upon processed claim information provided
> to the University by its contracted health plan claim administrators. All
> retiree-related costs incurred on an annual basis within the HBT apply
> toward the calculation of the University's Annual Required Contribution
> ("ARC") as determined under the requirements of Governmental Accounting
> Standard Board Statement 45, "Accounting and
> 
> Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than
> Pensions." The funding of the University's liability under GASB 45 is
> recorded separately from the HBT under a second trust, the "University of
> Idaho Retiree Benefits Trust" as disclosed in Footnote 13 of these financial
> statements.  The HBT does not issue a publicly available financial report."
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20Sta
> tements.pdf?pid=111453
> <http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20St
> atements.pdf?pid=111453&doc=1> &doc=1
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> I sent a public records request to the UI asking who these anonymous but
> strangely powerful trustees were and how they were chosen to serve.  After
> ten working days I received their names but my question on how they were
> appointed was ignored, and remains unanswered.  It is personally astonishing
> to me that letters to Dr. Nellis aren't acknowledged. The most minimally
> efficient office establishes that routine protocol early on; even elected
> officials in Idaho have mastered the art of pretending to be interested in
> constituents.  While the effects of an efficient smooze technique are lost
> on the two of us, what isn't lost is our interest in unwrapping the story of
> how and why UI employees pay more for less insurance.  We'll follow the
> money and let you all know how we are progressing.  And, not surprisingly,
> we'll call bull shit whenever we smell it.
> 
>  
> 
> Rose Huskey  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
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>  
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>