<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Rosemary,<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Now you really have me curious. WHO are the four (4) trustees?</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Wayne</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Oct 4, 2009, at 8:14 AM, Rosemary wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="Section1"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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. <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">“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:<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">This trust account is maintained under the sole control of the HBT board of trustees.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">and<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "> “NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">JUNE 30, 2008 AND 2007<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><a href="http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?pid=111453&doc=1" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?pid=111453&doc=1</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">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.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; ">Rose Huskey <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div>=======================================================<br>List services made available by First Step Internet,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> <a href="http://www.fsr.net" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.fsr.net</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> <br> <a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>=======================================================</div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>