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<p class=MsoPlainText>Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>“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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>This trust account is maintained under the sole control
of the HBT board of trustees.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText> “NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>JUNE 30, 2008 AND 2007<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><a
href="http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?pid=111453&doc=1">http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/documents/UI%202008%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?pid=111453&doc=1</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>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></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Rose Huskey <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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