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February 2001 Trust Talk
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Dental Survey Responses
Increasing the annual dental maximum was the top priority of members
taking the survey. Then, in order, the next areas for concentration are: increasing coverage for crowns and dentures, enhancing preventive services
and increasing the orthodontic maximum. The top write-in selection was improving the network.
Vision Survey Responses
Enhancing coverage so that yearly exam, lenses and frames were available
was the top priority of members taking the survey. The combination of yearly exam, lenses and frames was chosen as the first priority, and most
frequently selected as a priority in the remainder of the rankings. In order, the next priorities members want us to work on are adding lens
options, higher frame allowance and yearly exam and lenses. The yearly exam and lenses option came in as the fourth priority in the rankings,
but some respondents may have split their vote with the most popular option of yearly exam, lenses and frames.
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PLAN ENHANCEMENTS
Vision 12/12/12 as 0f July 1, 2001
- an eye exam every 12 months and
- lenses and frames every 12 months or contacts every 12
months, within plan limits. This is the widest reaching improvement the Trust has made to your vision coverage, and we made it in response
to member concerns and needs. This enhancement will apply to both Cole and VSP.
Beginning in July, you and your eligible dependents can obtain an annual eye exam,
and annual contacts or annual lenses and frames, and you may also be able to take advantage of new specialists in the dental network. The Board
of Trustees made the changes in response to members' suggestions in the 2000 benefits survey, and also through careful analysis.
Why these Benefits?
The Trustees and professional analysts on Trust staff looked at how members
use their benefits to determine the real need for these improvements versus some of the changes the State made in 2000. They focused on the top-ranked
choices (which are the improvements you're seeing), but they also considered the changes that members ranked as their second or third choices on the
survey or suggested to them in calls and in person. In that survey, a majority of members stated that they are satisfied with their Trust-sponsored
benefits, but gave lower satisfaction ratings to the dental and vision plans (45% and 43&#$37;, respectively). Given the ratings, the Trustees believed
they should examine the dental and vision plans, placing this review ahead of any new benefit plans that could be offered.
Having specific member input, the Trustees had to make some tough choices about
what to improve, if anything. The State barely covers the basic cost for dental, vision and life insurance for Trust members. Funding for the Trust
was hard-won in the last round of bargaining and is likely to be just as rough in the 2003 bargaining sessions. As such, the Trust is spending
down its unrestricted reserves to fund operational costs and Working Solutions Service, and any changes to benefit levels would increase the rate of
the "spend down" (making the 2003 bargaining more critical than ever). Any improvements would need to be carefully planned, and necessary to
meet members' needs.
Improving the Benefits
While the Trustees regularly examine the plan's performance and member usage,
they thoroughly analyzed the benefits in December with an eye to the necessary improvements.
Vision
Through analysis, the Trustees found that proportionally, the members getting
glasses did not opt for many add-on options. However, given the ages of the population and dependents, the majority of Union members and their
dependents need an annual eye exam, so offering an exam plus the ability to get the corrective materials needed would most positively impact the
most members.
Dental
The Trustees found through analysis of the dental plans, fewer than 2% of
the total membership reached their dental annual maximums. Further analysis showed that many members enroll in Preferred Choice (the network-based
plan), but receive specialty services from non-network providers. Comparing that to the number of dentists enrolled in the network per enrolled members
per county, it was clear that we needed to step up efforts ourselves to get more dentists in the plan (thus lowering members' costs).
The Trustees then examined the ways and means to make these (or any) improvements.
They found that two of the top and also most needed changes could be accomplished through further spend down, which will leave the Trust with a skinny safety
net in 2003. But through diligence, annual eye exams and contacts or lenses and frames were possible, as was dental specialty network growth. And
so, those became the enhancements for the 2001 plan year and beyond.
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