GIC Report Sheds Light on Out-of-Pocket Costs
SEPTEMBER 2016 VOICE: What our members are paying out-of-pocket, including copays and deductibles, for their health care is of utmost concern to this Association,” states President Frank Valeri. “For that reason, we take special note of any study or analysis that sheds light on the issue.”
GIC Report Sheds Light on Out-of-Pocket Costs
SEPTEMBER 2016 VOICE: What our members are paying out-of-pocket, including copays and deductibles, for their health care is of utmost concern to this Association,” states President Frank Valeri. “For that reason, we take special note of any study or analysis that sheds light on the issue.”
Recently the State Group Insurance Commission (GIC) issued its analysis of Out-of-Pocket Expenses for Pool 1 retirees and employees in Fiscal ’15. Before reviewing the findings in their analysis, we need to remember this. GIC’s Pool 1 includes retirees and employees from both state and local service. And in addition to the 43 cities and towns in the GIC (see page 13), there are over 100 municipalities that have implemented the 2011 Municipal Heath Insurance (see July Voice, pages 12 & 13). Under that law, most of them have adopted the same copays and deductibles as the GIC’s highest enrolled Medicare (OME) and non Medicare (Tufts Navigator) plans.
According to Valeri, “So the ripple effects of the GIC’s decisions on copays and deductibles goes well beyond retirees and survivors enrolled in the state insurance program. And while their analysis focuses on out-of-pocket costs for GIC state and local retirees as well as employees, it’s reasonable to assume that their analysis provides us with some understanding of the costs being paid by the many thousands of local retirees whose insurance plans have adopted the GIC copays and deductibles. And here’s what we’ve learned.”
See print edition of September 2016 Voice detailed information.