2014 Medical Plan  2014 Dental Plan 

2014 Summary of Benefits and Coverage

To All Plan Participants,

The Board of Trustees had their annual Plan Document meeting last month.  After much discussion and debate about the fiscal pressures being placed on the Fund from rising health care costs, increased utilization, increased prescription costs, additional health care reform fees from Obamacare and lower revenue collection over the last five years from fire rescue employee vacancies, they adopted their annual budget for F/Y 2013-2014. To meet the above challenges we are facing, they also updated the Medical & Dental Plan Documents for the plan year of 2014 with some of the changes explained below.

Many exciting things have transpired this year since the opening of your Health & Wellness Center. Annual firefighter physicals started in January and we began providing all services to participants April 1, 2013.  Your response to the facility has been overwhelming, energetic and exciting to say the least.  We had to quickly add staff to keep up with the tremendous demand for services, with over 50 patients being seen daily and continued growth expected. We plan to expand hours and days of service in the very near future to handle the continued growth and needs of the participants.  On behalf of the Board of Trustees and staff I thank you for your support.

The clinic was opened with two main goals in mind, first and foremost, to provide a better medical care experience for the participants of the health insurance fund, and secondly, to help control health claims cost through in house medical care and by getting our people healthier.  It appears that the clinic is accomplishing both of our goals; we are absolutely providing a better medical experience for our participants and we are starting to see a reduction in our year to year medical claims trend.  Next year we plan to bring more medical services in house which will help us to continue to accomplish both of our main goals.

Unfortunately, the Health & Wellness Center could not in itself stem the tide of loses we have been experiencing for the last couple of years.  We are very grateful that the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) has been settled and that Fire Rescue will soon begin the hiring process that has been non-existent for the last 5 years.  With over 170 vacant positions, the fiscal impact to the Fund is close to 3 million dollars annually, with estimated losses of 10-12 million dollars over the last 5 years. Couple this lost revenue with skyrocketing medical inflation and I’m sure you can understand the strain this has put on your health insurance fund.  This fiscal year the Fund is projecting a nearly 4 million dollar deficit with next year’s projection being close to double that, this is why changes need to be made. After much debate and discussion the Board decided to make the tough decision to raise premiums, something they haven't done in over 10 years.  They felt keeping next year’s deficit at 4 million dollars would be more sustainable and ensure the long term survivability of the Fund. With the fiscal responsibility and constraint the Board has shown over the last several years and the reserves they have in place for such situations, we have no doubt we can overcome this. Now that Fire Rescue is back to hiring and filling some of these vacancies and with the clinic being phenomenally successful, we should be back on track in no time at all. Read more...