ALC-Employee Benefits Division Oversight Subcommittee

Chair sees a quorum we want to get the meeting started. We've got a number of items on here and I think there's a meeting in here and that Levin I believe so we need to get started to move along I didn't have any other comments Senator Hammer you have any comments. All right so we'll move a committee will move right into items the approval of the actions of the state board of finance so Mr believe if you would come forward. No please introduce yourself and who you represent Jake plead with the employee benefits division of the department transformation insured services you're recognized to present good morning ladies and gentlemen of the subcommittee the state board of finance the met earlier this month to discuss a number of different items pursuant to legislation adopted most recent sessions those items are not being proper for the subcommittee for consideration. The main items were two fold first was a Medicare advantage contract which we have reached after lengthy negotiations with United healthcare that representatives of United healthcare are in the audience today and are available to take any questions. The second was a proposal that we have developed in cooperation with our actuarial firm Milliman firm on policies and procedures for the development of rates for bar members as well as the amount that the state would pay as an employer in a share it's kind of a different approach to how we're doing business and how we raise revenue for the employee benefits division those two issues were brought before the board of finance the board of finance approve them and they are now brought to you all for consideration. All right we do have a question Senator Hammer you're recognized thank you and Jake just a lot going on so refresh my memory about something United ending up with the bid it was through a competitive bid process and who else for the who else bid on it besides United yes Sir it was a an RFP or request for proposal for do we put out in working with the office of state procurement through state law state procurement law we also worked with the legislative consultant the Siegel group to develop the criteria for the Medicare advantage plan the limitations they really helped us develop on the front and a I felt very strong R. F. P. that laid out what we were in the market for and what we were not wanting so we really laid out an RFP for what I feel like the best possible plans we limited it to vendors who had strong track record who had high ratings with the federal government who we felt could deliver us a strong product. In response we get three bids three bids were with United humana which is and United is the largest provider of group Medicaid Medicare advantage plans you man I believe is number two and then there's a third company dentist or who submitted a of a. Mosel in response. In reviewing those and we follow procurement law and United healthcare following the process laid out in that law was deemed to be the winner we then move forward into negotiations and we we really I feel like pushed pretty hard bargains we strengthened some of the performance guarantees and some of the other aspects of the contract to make sure that the vendor we selected was really held to a high standard. Comma was going to be responsive to the needs of our members and to the expectations not just of the administration but the General Assembly this is an important policy decision for us it's a big step we wanted to make sure we did a really good job. But the bottom line is there is a competitive bid process based on the procurement laws the state of Arkansas they were awarded fairly the bed yes Sir I think it was very good procurement thank you. Representative makes you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman I have a to start with the chair yes so my my first question is I've been getting emails from constituents without concerns I'm sure you've probably heard of that If a enrollee chooses the Medicaid advantage that they can never go back or that everybody's gonna be enrolled and you have to opt out can you can you kind of talk about how that works sure so the. This first year in particular because we know our retirees are not used to making to being forced to make a decision or woman option. The Medicare eligible retirees will be automatically enrolled in the Medicare care advantage plan they will then have the opportunity beginning in August or September and running all the way through late into the year to November thirtieth to make their decision if they want to keep their existing level their existing plan their existing benefits and paid the accompanying rates they can do that or they can roll over to the Medicare advantage plan. In addition there will be a period in January in which I've for whatever reason somebody has missed all of our marketing and all of the meetings and all the efforts that for whatever reason they haven't made a decision they can still opt out during that period. What's more is coming in October again when we do open enrollment for our active members there will be an opportunity for folks who if they're enrolled in Medicare advantage and they don't like it they can go back or the alternative if they'd like to enroll in a Medicare advantage plan because they had opted out initially that would be their opportunity to do so Sullivan during normal open enrollment they can switch back and forth as this is a choice it really. So my and my second question is I'm looking at this page with the proposed cost and savings and it looks like with fifty percent Roman resume at twenty five million dollar savings to the to the plan do those savings come from reduce costs more efficiencies are we just transferring that costs from the state to the Gulf federal government. kind of all of the above okay so the the what where do you currently is the we run through traditional Medicare and they pay eighty percent of the cost we then follow up with twenty percent so that our members from at least the medical side don't pay anything. Of the public school side we don't provide pharmaceutical coverage we do provide pharmaceutical coverage for the state employees. By moving over to a Medicare advantage plan what we would be doing is relying on the expertise and the ability of United healthcare to reduce costs the federal government will pay them significantly so what you're seeing on that sheet is just what the state pays and what the member pays. You're leaving off the other part of the iceberg which is the amount the federal government will pay. United healthcare will then bear the risk so as their skin in the game at that point that's where the savings are going to come in for everybody but also keep in mind those savings are not going to come as a result of reduced benefits or reduce care in fact we have negotiated with them something called to gain share agreement where they have to report to us how much money they spend on benefits and if they keep too much they pay it back to us so I think we have some really good of guardrails in place to make sure that the savings don't result in lesser benefits for our members all right thank you thank you Mr. Representative back you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman in this question really comes from of some emails that I appreciated it's it's about that is it's going to the emails it's my understanding that people will automatically go to the advantage print plan that seems to be the rub with a lot of people that why we know why would we just use a marketing to allow them to opt into it as opposed to they have to opt out of the movie. Yeah just curious as to why that is so the thing that I think is is causing a little bit of an issue for us is the market right now is full of Medicare advantage plans that are individual plans that are not very good they don't provide very good benefits and that a lot of our members have been targeted some of even enrolled in its cause all kinds of problems for them so our members are very wary of that term Medicare advantage plan. our group plan is different from those plans in our Medicare advantage group plan and what we're we're proposing to subcommittee today will be identical in the level of benefits were providing I think I provided to the subcommittee some of the supporting documents a an explanation of benefits that would be provided under the Medicare advantage plan and if you look at it you see zeros and that zero represents how much members will pay okay they pay nothing. That that reflects in in is identical to their existing level of benefits. So with very very very few exceptions and we can talk about when that might occur with very few exceptions members to enroll in Medicare advantage will not see any change in their benefits the will still benefit from the same level of care and coverage that Medicare currently provides will still be provided over to the same members. Recognizing that in recognizing the amount of money it will save to the member themselves and it's significant for the employee or for the retiree as well as the amount of money will save the state and the opportunity that presents to us to keep rates lower and provide the same level of benefits for future retirees it makes sense to me to enroll our to do the auto enroll function and that was a recommendation of the consultant. the United healthcare people here and they can tell you they've done this and many other states with many other groups many other clients and it's somewhat rare actually for people to even have a choice a lot of folks are automatically enrolled with no option to maintain their existing benefits or in the alternative if they want to maintain their existing benefits they're allowed to do that but they have to pay the full cost they don't get any help from their employer. So and they can speak more about that John Thompson and his team are here but in a a lot of employers look at this as a great opportunity to make sure that we're providing the same level of benefits at reduced costs and that allows us that buys us more time to provide additional benefits going forward. I appreciate that and and hopefully. We'll spend some efforts communicating that out to the that that group and John because so I did get some they're concerned about coverage in cells but the majority of or just want to have to opt out of it so yes we we we had a great meeting yesterday with the Arkansas teacher retired or Arkansas retired teachers association and we continue to work with and emphasize education United will be holding a hundred and thirty five meetings over the summer and fall all across the state they have geo mapped out where those meetings will curse that our members don't have to drive very far. we are going to add that as much as we can educate members on what this is and what it is not. Well thank you thank you Mr. Representative back we we will probably get in more discussions under the three what you're talking about. Senator Chesterfield you're recognized for a question thank you so much Mister appreciate the opportunity Jake. There are some individuals who. I less cogent about this are they automatically if they were a part of the H. E. R. S. are they automatically enrolled in this program already no not already this I mean are they automatically enrolled in a in a Medicare advantage plan already know they're not not do Medicare advantage or current level benefits as traditional Medicare with our services coming in on the back it okay we'll do our services already coming in and if they needed to go to the hospital and they were a retired member of a TRS do they already have some health insurance in place as a result of that working in the public school system yes ma'am we provide that benefit for our retirees is that free all what are they paying they pay so an active member right now on the retiree system pays about a hundred dollars a month that payment usually comes out of their retirement system their new would eat their their pension. And so when they retire they are automatically enrolled in a health care plan what they have to voluntarily elect into it I don't know that the automatic so some have benefits from other employment for their spouses that they elect to use but that option is there okay but that is automatically available but not automatically done. You know I think that they have to go into it yet yes well with this plan on the opting in or is everybody that is a member of a pers and HRS automatically enrolled in this plan they will be automatically enrolled in Medicare eligible okay got. Well one of the things that I'm concerned about is will the doctors accept this plan. Have you done a poll of positions across this state to see whether or not they will accept this Medicare advantage plan because that's one of the the major concerns is will doctors accepted yeah we've heard that very early on we continue to hear that and when we wrote the R. F. P. we emphasize that it whatever provider ends up winning the contract has got to make sure that we had a strong and expansive that were what would one of the things we really wanted to make sure we we limited as much as possible was a negative impact on our members by switching over this we wanted to have the same drugs that are covered we want them to have the same doctors available we really honestly I don't want them to notice a difference except for the cards in their pocket and the amount that is pulled out of their new eternity check should go up significantly if they enroll in this. One of the Medicare eligible and they did not be in before they must act and now what I'm trying that's what I'm trying to get to so we have our network specialists here at United who can answer all the questions no we. Senator Chesterfield under the three United will come up and maybe just give me some more information thank you sent me representative later when I appreciate it thank you J. yes ma'am and we can talk more about that but I do want to say we emphasize that and they're very very very few providers who do not take Medicare advantage of three United group and if there are any out there who for whatever reason don't want to see our members we want to know who they are so we can talk to them about it. All right seeing no further questions from committee Is there a motion to approve. I have a motion to approve their second. I have a second. all in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed nay Motian carries with approved. Representative Meeks Push the button there you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman just a quick point of personal privilege want to wish everybody a happy birthday it was today back in eighteen thirty six that Arkansas became the twenty fifth state in the union so today is R. one hundred and eighty sixth birthday. And so we were average back then we were in. Thank you representative makes. Senator Pitsch you're recognized for a question birthdays I think we all lot knowledge representative Rick backs birthday is this today so. happy birthday. Share. All right committee we're gonna move on to item D. Review employee benefits division contracts and amendments so subject you would please and introduce yourself again for the record and you represent a Jake plead with the employee benefits division of the department transformation insurance services all right you're recognized to present the one. B. R. so if you are acts is and we have a number of contracts I think one of the things that we submitted to the subcommittee last month was our quarterly report in there on the back pages the whole comp quilt list of different contracts that we have on going one of the contracts that we have submitted for renewal and this is effective July one is with ET our acts which is an entity out of the University of Arkansas for medical sciences pharmacy college they are our primary clinical consultant when it comes to managing pharmacy benefits those of you who are familiar with PBMs or pharmacy benefits managers know that there's a lot that can go on there and you can get very complicated and there's a high level of expertise that is required so we have contracted with EBR acts to help us manage those pharmacy benefits this proposal this extension is on an existing contract I believe there's no rate increase in all. I had any questions from committee. Senator Hammer you're recognized thank you get my mind around some of the B. R. X. previously. Until we went through all the changes that we went through was providing what they provided some services to the retired teachers or my confused on that they have evolved over the years they have provided a number of different services they provide services for example not just the V. D. but the Municipal League state police As You system. Of the really are are kind of integral to what we do on the pharmacy side okay and what. Hit it again what is this amount for and what are they doing for this amount. So would. I want to see if I can do this so when we of we spent about a quarter million dollars a year on pharmacies on drugs and if you look at our cost drivers drugs are easily one of the fastest growing specialty drugs in particular. If we allowed normally you wouldn't rely on a PBM to manage those costs but we know from the past that maybe the PBMs can't always Working as transparent manner as we would prefer as that sounds. So we rely on the college of pharmacy staff and the employees of the B. R. acts to review the decisions of the of the. IBM and any particular to help us pick which drugs are worth covering in which you're not when we should have a prior authorization on a drug and to really allow us to do some hands on management and as a result we have I think very low costs that was one of the things the sequel team had identified when they review DVD last year we also have a very very high level generics that we use in a lot of that we're decisions that the PRX helped us arrive at. Okay okay for six telling me not to catch up and catch up for second time. So and this is applying to state employees or which population is just be both state and public school. Okay and I guess part of it because a member the discussion about United healthcare is not going to be picking up part of the pharmacy calls and I'm just wondering the United healthcare would pick up the pharmacy for those PO's sixty five retirees who enroll. Okay then I'll be are acts contract will cover everyone so we have a hundred sixty thousand members right now give or take thirty thousand roughly are retirees PO sixty five retirees so we still have to worry about how we're going to make sure the pharmacy benefit needs of the other hundred thirty hundred forty thousand employees are met right at the end where going to finishes if it was such a good thing that would keep it on for this population why was it not such a good thing that we wouldn't keep him for the population that is now going to be covered by United healthcare United healthcare has their own pharmacy benefits so one of the things that we did in working with the United healthcare team and in going for with a Medicare advantage plan is really setting out the benefits that they lay out. Including medical including pharmacy including everything for them it's a package deal I think that they can probably speak more detail on how the pharmacy works but if they can come when they come up yeah yeah okay thank you. Like to share. All right seeing no further questions without objection this rule is review Jake you're recognized due to represent the two. Medem back. Submit impact is our current pharmacy benefits manager there contract actually expires in February and we are right now in fact working on a new pharmacy benefits manager are if the we have issued an RFP we've gotten proposals back and we are evaluating those proposals. However we need to make sure that those benefits extend out until the new contract begins January one so the proposed contract would allow us to extend the medic impact. A contract for the remainder of twenty twenty two the last six months. At any questions from committee. Seeing none without objection this rule stands reviewed. So we're gonna move on to item the three United healthcare we do have a handout committee that's coming around. So you'll be getting that in the. And quickly. And Jake you're recognized if United if you all want to come up. So let's let's let them get up and introduce ourselves and. Or did you want did you want to go ahead presents no I just want to say I hope you like looking at these folks because they are going to be visiting a lot they're going to be very active in working with our members all over the state and helping to educate them on on the Medicare advantage plan what it is what it is and there's a lot to learn and the good news is that our retirees particularly in the public school sites are very interested in it they have a lot of really good questions so all. Turn it over to John Thompson push the button because there's. A few hold on a minute we're going to bring another chair up so that you can come up because we need to get you at the table. Of Right so committee we're looking at the three here and if you would and Mr levy including you if everyone with their dues yourself and who you represent subject lead employee benefits division department transformation insured service Hey good morning everybody I'm John Thompson so I'm a national vice president with United healthcare. Good morning I am Linda Johnson the chief client officer with United healthcare. Good morning everyone I'm Dr Linda me I'm the medical director for United healthcare and I will be the medical director for this plant. Good morning everyone my name is joy white and the vice president network for United healthcare okay. All right your recognized to present. So as I mentioned earlier this is a Medicare advantage contract it would be made available to our post sixty five retirees in Arkansas school an in state employees plan beginning January one of twenty twenty three. The benefit would be a significant cost savings for the member the state and for the I think the federal government even but it is dependent upon the really the expertise and the ability of the folks that we have brought in before you all today to talk about it I am by no means an expert on the Medicare advantage plan they are being very active and responsive to our needs and there's been a lot of discussion I don't want to belabor it I'm sure you all have heard from retirees so with that Mister chair I'd like to I guess field questions from the committee as needed. All right. Okay yeah we do have some questions representative makes you're recognized for a question thank you Mr I have this to two quick questions first question is talked about your presence is going to be in the state to be able to serve members and their members questions I know shall or your corporate offices out of me and Minneapolis Minnesota so talk to us about your presence that you're going to have here in the state of Arkansas. Yeah I'll I'll start again I'm John Thompson with United and so we do have a very strong presence in the state of Arkansas again what we do is group Medicare advantage people laughed at me because I will say group because it is not in this is not the plan you see on TV fully customized solution so we have a very strong local team with regards to network client management and also a strong presence in the state where the where the largest Medicare advantage provider and for instance the University of Arkansas moved to a group Medicare advantage plan with United eight years ago we also have several other clients that are located in Arkansas and John if I can jump in here when they moved that they have an option now so that the university they did what we call full replacement where they moved to their Medicare retirees to a group Medicare advantage we just renew their contract and they have ninety eight percent retiree satisfaction and that's not pass telling there were not being a self serving that is the root be holder retirees individually I'd like to have a little bit again led to John M. I believe the account management team the presence that we will have here locally to represent of for the retirees we will be placing to onsite representatives in the even the office the purpose of that is to make sure that we don't allow our group Medicare advantage plan to be an additional burden on the staff we plan to field all the questions calls the concerns of the retiree we do this with all of our state customers and what we find is that it gives them an opportunity to truly focus on the business at hand to make sure that the folks that can help manage claims questions provider questions of care questions can be available within that office we also have call center folks that are actually here in the state of Arkansas that will take those phone calls. We will have a presence throughout the summer and throughout the fall what we will be hosting meetings to make sure that we educate the retiring so our goal is to make sure we are very present very up front because retirees to require handholding and they deserve that hand holding so we will definitely be here for the retired thanks thanks thank you now that was exactly what I was hoping to hear my second question you may have actually already included to that is so when constituents contact me with questions or concerns about what's going on I'm assuming that these two people that'll be in their office would be who we would go through in order to get those issues resolved is that correct that is absolutely correct we have also made in a way that if you would like to even publish their names pictures phone numbers on the website more than welcome to do that because their goal is to meet with every retiree that needs their assist actually thank you thank you Mr. Senator Caldwell you're recognized for a question. I actually have two questions one for me one from Senator Ingram Texas question in a mock the question is my constituents concerned it's been provider access and and eliminated out of network could you address that please yeah I'll start and then I would have joined I promise you I'm not to steal your thunder against John Thompson so the key here is that we are providing a group Medicare advantage plan so it is a group plan it's not the plan you see on TV it's not an individual plan so it is a group Medicare advantage PPL where the benefits are the same in and out of network joy white talk about that but again the benefits of there is not a different benefit if you go out of network so if the retiree you see the zeros where they don't pay anything the benefits are the same in network and out of network and now have joy talk about how we work and pay providers thank you John so enjoy white on vice president of network so as John alluded to earlier how this problem our product works and how we work with our providers if you are a non contracted provider with this group plan you get reimbursed at a hundred percent CMS allow which means if you accept Medicare you accept this plan and get members exactly thank. Not only in Arkansas if you're retirees were to travel to Hawaii California Florida it is the exact same this is a national PPO plan that is we accept it ninety nine point nine percent of time in the United States and the five U. whispered five Mister or literally so we have started with we also have many other clients in this state that also have the group Medicare advantage plan from United health. So we have a long history of providing acceptance of this plan and they will continue to be for your terms as well can I have one last comment so we know we have to educate retirants and we educate retirees but at the same time what we will do is educate the provider community and we received a disruption on what providers the retired the Medicare retirees with the ASEAN PSE or utilized not only we're gonna work with the retirees but choice going to lead the provider education on how the plan works how they get paid again they are going to be paid the same as they are paid today a hundred percent of the Medicare allowable that's the same as original Medicare pays. Jake this may be for you this is from Senator Ingram you text them us is it was my understanding that we are guaranteed thirty four million in savings on pharmaceuticals or PBMs savings capped at thirty four million why should we be getting percentage of savings above that so I think Senator Ingram is talking about the PBM contract and some of the analysis that the Siegel group may trust me we're not placing a cap on any savings and I I don't know that we guarantee that number that was their projection on how much they thought we can bring this question is that what you're there is no cap we're going to save as much money as we can okay thank you thank you Mr. Senator Irvin you're recognized for a question. Thank you and just thank you think just there are people watching online and they're texting us questions one is Again explain the difference between the maps is it and is is that a Medicare network paying Medicare rates and how is that different than existing mass. So what the retirees have to day is J. talked about earlier is a Medicare supplement plan that means Medicare pays eighty percent and then your plan picks up the remaining twenty percent that means they go to any doctor that accepts Medicare. The plan that you are voting on today is the group Medicare advantage PPL plan with prescription drugs that means that yes we do have a network of doctors that are contracted with us but that also means we have out of network benefits and is John talked about the benefits are the same it regardless of whether you go in around so if you see a specialist in network you pay that copay you pay zero because you're copays today as they have or if you go to a doctor that's non contracted and accepts Medicare you also pay zero we pay Medicare we pay the provides the same as what we pay one that Medicare patients okay so it's the same program the only difference is we are now taking on the full liability we no longer Senator claims through Medicare we take that liability and the reason why we do that is because today under the Medicare supplement program you have no care services you have no clinical services there are no programs in place to encourage the retirees to be healthy or to address chronic conditions because Medicare just simply Page or claims with the group Medicare advantage program we will now take on the responsibility of helping the retirees live healthier lives we will put clinical programs in place and incentives in place in addition to the value added services that we have that but at the end of the day every provider will be paid the same as what they are paid by original Medicare okay and then just can you follow I'm and I know that you have said previously that you're going to add doctors or work to try to get people into network you're gonna look at the map of the state of Arkansas and and to go through that process but that doctors would also be involved in this because. Nickel process yes that is correct if you want to speak no we. Good morning I'm Dr Linda may medical director for the plan and wanted to explain a little bit and just a knowledge the members that we're talking about I know that you know we come and talk a lot about insurances and numbers that I as a physician my main focus is on who were treating and it's the teachers the public employees those who have sacrificed and put their health last to try and support us and I feel like as a position working for United healthcare this is my time to help support them and to really be involved in those programs that we and I helped create and monitor so we're very involved to speak with the physicians that are in contract and network with us my background is I am triple boarded I'm family medicine residency I did a geriatric Scholarship and hospice and palliative care fellowship and I also I'm still a practicing physician and that's important to me because. That way I I'm not just sitting behind a desk all day I'm actually treating members treating patients not only through my private practice but also three United healthcare I am very involved in the clinical programs I do ride alongs I go to members homes that are on this plan to be sure that they're actually receiving the quality care were promising you today and especially because there's just nothing beats an in home personal best and I'm sure the physicians in the room would understand that you know would be a ten minute sterile exam room visit you're never going to get the kind of quality care that not only addresses medical care and medications and diagnoses but looks at things like social determinants of health when were in the home what we can see things like if they don't have access to food if they don't have a car in the transportation if their air conditioning unit isn't working and I know you're thinking well that has nothing to do with medicine but we're able to do things outside the box like help with fixing the AC unit providing them a new one that's the ultimately yes it's going to affect their health care so I am very passionate about what I do because I came into this profession to make sure that. We all provide and I provide quality care and I'll give you all the members on this plan as if they were a family member of mine and how what I want that family member treated and so I I just wanna emphasize that United healthcare is about quality is about having people live healthier lives longer at home and that's why we proactively are screening for conditions so that we can find out how to educate people and health complications before they happen no granted a lot of these public employees teachers have conditions that are more advanced the cause the sacrifice during their careers and we're here to try and see how we can best support them despite what where they are and meet them where they're at in their condition we have post districts programs for those coming home from the hospital or were providing care givers to help with hygiene cooking meals preparation transportation services meals we go above and beyond to make sure that these members are taken care of because that's one of the reasons for a five star plan it's the quality of care that we're providing thank you I just want to follow up with the last question center if you could be more specific there's a meeting in this remote eleven so does question thank you for your answer not about the last question is how does your practicing physician and so just as we have experienced things with PBMs and working to ensure that rule pharmacies are viable. We want to make sure that your you know these clients these employees have a viable health care option in rule Arkansas and that's why you are getting these questions because it's important for them to be able to pay their employees and keep their doors open so that they do have a doctor you know and a healthcare provider in rule Arkansas and so it is an important balance that has to be struck so that we we want to give maximum benefits to our public school employees and our teachers employees but we also have to balance that with making sure that the people that are providing this points of care are paid appropriately so that they can remain viable in these rule economies thank you I just wanna add one thing on that because I know there's a lot of discussion on the network what's a little bit different with the group Medicare advantage plans so we do have network providers but it works as as a Medicare providers so the key is it's not so much in and out of network so retiree can go out of network and pay that zero cost share and then we're paying the provider the same as original Medicare so that's the key it's not so much about so we have ninety nine point nine percent provider acceptance so you're not we're not limiting the network again it's the Medicare network so I just want to be clear on how this product works it's very different from the individual Medicare advantage plans I will say it's a group Medicare advantage plan now probably for the tenth time thanks. All right members we do wanna get all the questions answered because this group we may not have them before us so we do wanna get those answered and I apologize I made a mistake the meeting at eleven is and be so we have more time for questions so senator Chesterfield you're recognized for a question. I shall be brief how will you notify folks when this goes into effect. Hi Linda Jones again so when the name of page. Just officer thank you have a phone to. one of the things that we do is we will work very closely with the EPD staff it's important for us to understand your culture how you currently communicate with your retirants and to supplement that so I think it's just mentioned we will be doing about a hundred and thirty in person meeting in addition to those in person meetings are also going to have virtual options for meetings a communication campaign will go out. Mid June when we're ready with everything July so when everything is done to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on we also had a hello sales department it's our pre enrollment department that will be not it's a special number dedicated to your retirees and those folks will be able to answer all questions that retirees may have they have the ability to help them locate where the nearest meeting it's going to be make a reservation for them a little bit and then what I need to know is he gonna send them a letter or something saying that the program yes ma'am if everybody's covered why have a network at all. That was a question I ask is. You people asking me why I have a network of everybody's covered anyway. What the network is important because not only do one make sure you have access to a broad access to providers but you also want to make sure that we're partnering with quality someone in the White is ask me that question I'm asking you know and the request let me introduce some folks who are here I've missed abated Gates is here Miss Pollock Parker Mr right behind there two of them are retirees one is open to be soon so we're hopeful that that that the number will be up that there's sufficient notification you know I see joining with all the time and all these other crazy people with all the stuff which is so annoying but I want you to be just as annoying so that people are aware that you're here and that they are automatically enrolled are you sending them a letter saying they automatically enrolled a what is that what's going to happen Jake how they gonna know because there are some folks who have not opted into anything that will not automatically be opted in eyes how will you make them sure that they know and that's going to be the big challenge like at like the mentioned earlier we're going to be meeting we're gonna be sending out letters were going to be contacting people as much as early and as often as possible what should they look for when you're sending out the correspondence what should they look for a look for the employee benefits division should they look for United healthcare because a lot of folks just stuff that they are expecting and wait I want to make sure this is not considered junk mail so they should definitely look for the logo first and foremost we are gonna be low because I can't see that yes that the attacks actually the TSS local we will have low goes we will have branding we will have a specific name for the program I've been told that we might do videos will have a website I've even offered to make a video doing my best to me Walker impersonation my please don't I want by. I don't know I don't want to use a dynamite at all. It's offensive go ahead. All right is that all that the Senate I mean representative thank thank you senator Hammer you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chairs at the meeting yesterday law with representative warn you all did an excellent job presented to the retired teachers association want to commend you on that as we interact and get that information out one hit a couple of points that you shared yesterday it may bring some clarity there's a letter I understand it's gonna be mailed out July first and Jake it's going to go to all all eligible retirees not just those that are currently enrolled in the system but if their eligible they will receive a letter sometime after July first with the designated logo is that correct yes okay so that's going to be the first point of information they should receive that's an official document that says here's how you get hold of us and the communication lines open up at that point. Second bullet point they will have from that time until November thirtieth to make a decision as to whether they want to opt in or opt out which gives them as far as open enrollment period is concerned plenty of time to lay down and do a comparison between the plans that they either have now the plans if they want to go independent knocked out and go get it purchase from somebody else or stay in the group plan that's being offered through this that we have worked out the arrangements for so they've got that window of time from the time they receive that letter until November thirtieth in order to make the decision is that correct yes confirmed okay so that should put a lot of people's mind that these that this is a being shoved down the throat that they're actually going to have that Jake you have a little bit of question in your mind there's no at what I just want to add that will be the official deadline but you also have an opportunity to reconsider later on in the year so January rolls around they'll be a thirty day period during January twenty twenty three and then also going forward if you get into the plan you don't like it or you want to get into the plan later on you'll have an opportunity to fall of twenty three okay and then also as far as the savings is being created from this plan that money is gonna be parked where and what's the purpose of the money that's going to be safe through this long term sure so savings is a funny word around here as you know what what is defined in law now the wonderful so when we save money what we're looking at is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on our existing healthcare benefit for these folks and so what we would be saving is in effect money that we would not be spending and so what we're going to see over time is the cost curve the employee benefits division coming down and so as a result the funds that are provided by the General Assembly and the General Assembly has stepped up big time to help out our teachers and our retirees. That money will go further meeting date next year twenty twenty five twenty six twenty eight thirty thirty five even going forward the amount of money we need will not be as great we'll be able to stretch those dollars further so we won't necessarily have money in the bank that we're saving in a sense but we are because that we are avoiding as a result of this which would be a repeat of two thousand thirteen is what we're trying to avoid thrilled absolutely okay last thing thank you Mr last thing and I will I'll always want to give people a chance to defend himself if something's been said so I spoke to teacher yesterday after the meeting not there but out and said United healthcare is going to be the administrator they were not real happy because they do not feel that United healthcare has a stellar reputation of taking care of their customers and their clients Jake said awhile ago it was awarded to a fair process two to procurement procurement plan which I believe probably would have included looking at your past history in other states I want to speak to your reputation is United healthcare. Because if it's not good we'll all be back in this room it will not be a pleasant experience so I want to give you a chance to defend your reputation is United healthcare in two minutes or less please thank you so this is John Thompson again so we are providing a group Medicare advantage plan and this is regulated by the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and they have a star rating program that is based on quality of the plan how you serve Medicare retirees customer service claims et cetera five stars is the greatest you can get we are a five star plan we are five out of five stars we the only national carrier that is a five star plan that is not United saying we're a five star plan that is the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services CMS where we are awarded five stars that is the highest you can get and that is based upon written claims customer service over thirty measures quality and it's all about quality so the good thing with Medicare advantage plans is you have CMS looking over our shoulder and they are always looking out for the retiree they're not looking for the insurance carrier so quality that is quality speaks for itself and we're very proud of being a five star plan we also have twenty other state retirement systems that were sitting right where you are so we have surrounding here the two Texas retirement system's the teachers of the former employees the state of Alabama the teachers in the the teachers and employees the state of Missouri the state of Georgia all we're sitting where you are and again our retiree satisfaction for our group Medicare advantage plans is ninety eight percent and consistently so and those are those are each state providing their own customer satisfaction for retirees it's not us. Thank you thank you Mr. Representative bond you're recognized for a question. Thanks a representative Pilkington sitting represented by the state your short run okay you're recognized and they're like an active. thank you chairman Ladyman so one of my questions about the same benefits in an hour which I know is going to dance around this a little bit but maybe you can help me understand a little more so if you're a beneficiary whether going in or out of network again the same benefits and as a provider the advantage is that you get reimbursed at a higher rate if you're in network as those out of network is that correct not necessarily so so if your contract that you are being reimbursed at whatever that contract if we yes that goes she both between us and the provider if you're not contracted you're paid a hundred percent of that CMS Medicare allowable okay so when things I know when you see one of the cops a triple lame and reduce costs on the best ways I believe in reducing costs reducing variations Care you could but medicine is kind of a negative terms used to it how do you all when you have people that are going in and out that works especially with your high you know your your high cost people how do you make sure that you eliminate variations in care to help reduce costs over that population if you have providers that are in and out of network. So I'll take it from a quality standpoint. speak so what we do from a quality standpoint is to ensure that our members quality of care is the same whether the make the provider has contracted or not so we're the only national carrier that has the primary care incentive plan when we work with our P. C. P. to make sure that they are engaging with our members to make sure that they have their diabetic I exams completed then they have their mammograms completely that they had a colonoscopy. We do that both for in network providers as well as. We're the only could carry that does that so if we're incentivizing a PCP based on those gaps in care closures and engagement and we pay them a bonus we do the exact same thing for are out of network by gadget so the incentive plan is for anyone whether they're in network absolutely okay that that clears up okay thank you you will. All right We've got more questions. But the committee. I'm going to call a. Are you recess for five minutes don't anybody leave. with some of you need to go next door for me that meeting in mac B. to vote so we're gonna recess for five minutes and then come back if you don't need to go to that meeting you just stay where you're at and I'll be a few minutes so we're recess for five minutes. All right. Committee on call us back in the order and now we're going to go ahead with questions already Representative McCollum you're recognized for a question thank you Mr chair right over here. this is a question from a member that's not here today but that's watching it and not sure I know this question has been asked in some ways but want to see if it's been asking this way and and try to get an answer for. If a retiree decides to not enrolled in the advantage plan will they be allowed to stay in the current plan or be allowed to convert to an individual supplement with a guaranteed issue basis. They will certainly be given the opportunity to maintain their existing benefits. if. Hey if they want to do something other than that I don't think that they can do that. So would understate law you have to maintain coverage in our plan once you leave our plan if you choose to do that under state law you cannot come back. Okay. The answer questions I think so okay. All right. Hammer you're recognized. They are quite clear father just so there's no confusion we're we talk about the retired population we're talking about was. Do you will set up I interpreted the question to be regarding the opt out provision available to retirees the Medicare advantage plan that we're talking about today will only be available to folks who qualify for Medicare so don't be over the age of sixty five and not working primarily. The if of this plan will not be available to our regular active part of members I wish I could roll it to be honest. Okay. All right thank you. Senator call will you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair. Of another question from someone who is Senate email manage his or what about premium cost with the current plan premium rate go up dramatically over time so we haven't re issued the rates yet for the current plan one of the issues before the subcommittee today is some policies regarding rates and of course the approval of the Medicare advantage plan will to some extent effect how rates are calculated because the Medicare advantage plan will reduce the amount of money we have to come up with that's the amount everybody has to pay right now we're looking at our rate proposals and while rates will go up and they have not gone up in years of. No we don't anticipate it will be major significant increases like we've seen so in some other plans in a of like bring up Jacob this is basically of come of the. Close planet that the money goes in for the premiums costs go out the phone treatment so the legislature has had to bail out and the beauty two three times in the recent history well you know several hundred million dollars so basically to make the plan work you either or not charge enough for your paying out too much or somebody stating from the plant the basically there's no other way that money can come in other through them through premiums now again the legislature did bailout to keep it afloat that that can't continue to to happen of the but the but the other thing I don't think anybody struggling so we either either by charging enough for paying too much out in and I'm just throwing it out so the general public will know one of the planes in trouble that that's right and one of the things that we looked at when I came on a year or so ago why we kept having this challenge because of course we did it in twenty thirteen we did again in twenty twenty one the legislature has provided a tremendous amount of support and funding for the plan when there was the need there one of the things that we've shown in the quarterly report which we provide your last month. Show that the the course of the plans really turned around because of all that support and funding. But at the same time that support and that funding will go away and we will have a repeat of twenty thirteen and five or six years right when that funding goes away so one of the things we've worked on is trying to develop a rate process where we. Have the state step up and pay more so right now the state pays sixty five percent of an active members premiums. Give or take we look at our surrounding states and that's very very low compared to everyone else so under the proposal before you today that amount would increase to eighty percent. We would also adjust the rates to reflect how much they actually cost instead having everybody's cost hold flat when costs are going up obviously that's gonna leave a gap between how much money the rates bring in and how much money we need that's the gap that this legislature is had to step in and bail out. We want those rates to flow with those costs so all this is to say that we really think that the proposal we put into place the rate structure we have in place to prevent bailouts in the future and should instead provide a far more stable and secure insurance benefit for our members. Thank you thank you thank you Mr. Representative Crawford you're recognized for a question. This. Thank you Mr chair. I have a million dollar question put your seatbelt on. CMS mandates providers employees to be vaccinated. To be able to receive the funds. Will this plan required members to be vaccinated to receive benefits. And yes. It over to us. Will that those members be able to move back to the old plant. This is Linda Jones I'm gonna start for. Simply put no to be a member of this group Medicare advantage plan we do not require members to be vaccinated I will tell you that is a healthcare company United healthcare does require employees that come in contact with retirees to be vaccinated because we care about the health of our retirees so when we host meetings all of our employees and staff that will be present are vaccinated but we do not require members to be vaccinated to be a part of this plan. Okay it is a federal plan I mean Medicare standards so believe in what's group bombing I understand but the base the base what what CMS requires of us if anyone who takes federal funding from CMS for program is that their employees be vaccinated they do not mandate that members be vaccinated so anyone that has a contract with CMS and our group Medicare advantage program is a contract with CMS we are required as employees to be that okay and I understand all that. And there's with the million dollar question is if it ever changes. To where members would have to be vaccinated. Would they ever would they be able to move over to the plaintiff so what I can answer first and I'll let you take the rest. We are required to follow all CMS mandates so it CMS ever came to us is that the members of your group Medicare advantage plan must be vaccinated we then come before you wa and we share that information with you and we let you know what that mandate is and then you can make decisions from there. If I. If I can add that After months. If I could add to that are members already covered by Medicare so if Medicare were to come along and say all the sudden to receive Medicare benefits you have to get vaccinated we would have the same issue whether they were covered by Medicare advantage under the United or under their current benefits. So you're saying all state employees are covered and I'm not just talking retirees. The House this would just cover retired are thank you. Representative Dotson you're recognized thank you Mr chair so just just to clarify. just some of the previous questions and answers back and forth You've said if a member leaves the plan they can't come back in under state law that's if they leave a state plan altogether correct that's not on an annual enrollment basis they could choose the Medicare advantage one year and I have excellent coverage in back and forth yeah so they're not if they want to try it out for years they don't like it they can go back to those or land or the land we have it's it just to be clear it's it's really a breaking coverage issues so if we we have some folks who will retire and go on their spouses coverage and they will use ours but then later on they want to join our plan because they haven't had a breaking coverage the they are eligible to do that okay that's the sense I just wanna make sure that if if they choose this. Per year. Then the next year they decided Hey it didn't work out I don't like to cover they won't know if they're they're they're gonna have to be one of the other the two plans it's it's really a people to say you know what I'm talking have insurance to heck with it that's where the policy no risk to members to to try it out for the year and you're going to work with them over this first year especially to make sure that any issues that might crop up yeah we're addressing those in app and making sure that the the members are really hand held in taking care of even more so correct in this first transition year we want this to work and this is a long term commitment this is not a one year or two year five year process really and this is going to be something that we want to work and we want to be very successful thank you. Senator Bledsoe you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chair I have a question from a retired teacher and she is too young for Medicare insurance or she had shall have their existing benefits her existing benefit of sale or thank you. Senator Hammer you're recognized to that issue. What are projected rate increases for that population is gonna be caught in that window of being punished for being too young and not old enough you know Medicare so the rates for are or are not yet finalized of course we're dependent on some of the decisions today but those rates will increase now one of the things to keep in mind is that. Wall the rates for the pre sixty five population will go up and that's a reflection of the cost that those individuals impose on the plan and we have some very sick people in our pre sixty five population. This state will also be increasing its contribution for those folks right now we pay between fifty five and sixty five percent of their costs will be moving that up to about seventy five percent so while there will be some increases the increases will be spread across the state will be shouldering more of the rate going forward are we able to use some of the savings from what we're doing for the retired population to help neutralize the cost of the population that's caught between retired young but not old enough to be put on the Medicare plan absolutely and not only are we using the savings that the State enjoys for the Medicare advantage plan to offset cost increases for the pre sixty five retirees were doing the same thing for our active okay this really is a commitment to making sure that the same level benefits that are available to our retirees today are available for active employees when they retire five ten or twenty years from now which is an important distinction because what we're doing in this one population all populations going to benefit to the overall driving down the cost of the plans absolutely thank you at the end of the day if I can add on that yes you all know this this all comes out of the state's budget and all comes out of the school district's budget whether to retirees whether it's for active members regardless and so the extent to which we can help provide relief to those costs now in a long term the better the benefits can be then the longer we can provide thank you. Representative right you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr chairman getting back to what representative sandy was speaking about a few minutes ago if if one of our people want to get out of the Sheik let's just say they don't want to go with this and they want to go with the old plan that they were on before this actually began. Is this going to be more expensive for them should they go that direction. So if the and opt out of the Medicare advantage plan and they want to keep their existing level of benefits is that what you're asking they can do so they will probably see an increase in costs again the retirees have not seen an increase in sometime but they were working on exactly how much of an increase that is we're trying to make this as an option we're we're trying to make sure that those costs increase or not so prohibited that people are driven into the Medicare advantage plan yes follows please representative yes go ahead but if our folks some of these folks come up to us A. J. can say look we don't like what was going on which is probably gonna be great overall but let's just say that they have a problem with it we would probably need to let them know there's probably is gonna be a cost increase of. The two plans yeah you got away from the old one well and the but the reality is that there's going to be a cost increase for everybody is at least for the state standpoint were increasing this give out this state is paying from sixty five to eighty percent the reality is that insurance costs and healthcare costs go up sixty percent annually. Somebody's got to pay that additional funding now this state has shouldered an increasing amount of that cost and we're doing everything we can to shield our folks from paying more but those cost increases are going to be absorbed by the plan one way or another thank you thank you Mr chairman. Representative back you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair of so I just one day I just love that wall on the what you what you said and I'll the question is is this group that this pre sixty five on call in the retired all right so they're they're on the they have the helpline available any rate increase with that plan for those those people as it is that attached to like a rate increase for active in pledges or any kind of of of yeah like. They both can increase at ten percent because the costs are. There and there may not be any connection at all between those two plans but so the memorandum that we put in we provide to the committee and it really lays out how what best practices are for a large group insurance plan but one of the things that we want to get in the practice of doing is taking the total cost of the plan and allocating those costs out on populations and then in effect if you are a member of a particular population we know how much it will cost to provide you insurance based on prior experience and that's how much the costs are going to be paid by that particular member it's a way to actuarially adjust the risk that the plan bears by providing insurance and it's based on our actual experience. It's a way of saying if everybody pays the amount they should pay then we it the amount actuarially that they costs for the health care for them that we have a way of paying for the plan a hundred percent and we won't need any money from you. Another way to think of it is everybody's going to in effect pay their fair share based on our experience of the last few years so we know that spouses tend to be more expensive than active employees I think we probably have a lot of self employed folks a lot of farmers a lot of folks who are working with their hands and they have a lot of health care costs conversely we know the kids are cheap they're healthy they don't cost much. We can build those realities though those things that we know into costs so that we can make it cheaper to ensure kids than it is to ensure spouses the same with the pre sixty five retirees so what's complicated and hard to explain there is a rhyme and reason to the announcmenet that everyone will pay. Building on the that the employer or the state will have a uniform rate that we pay we're gonna give everybody the same amount whether you choose to be in the premium plan of the classic of the basic. The contribution from the state will be uniform right now it's not so that's five years working to shift into that so that twenty twenty eight twenty twenty nine we get to the place we want to be we will have everybody kind of at a place where they're paying their fair share the state's paying uniform rate and we're following best practices for a large group employer. Back. Mr Paula yes go ahead of what my concern is this and this. May not be possible but so let's say that that group that's on that's pre sixty five that they're on the that plan I'm saying that as as a whole as compared to the other groups probably a small group of people it's about four thousand people turned so which is still pretty good sized so my concern would be that if you had some of the events there you could read and and you were looking at that group. Of. You could that there there if the state in the states giving us a flat amount into that their premium for that plan could. Could really fluctuate absolutely and one of the things that we're looking at with the risk adjusting process is how do we manage that that that population how do we help them how do we reduce their risk the cost but the one of the realities of being a self funded plan and that's what we are as we pay whatever the claims come in if we have to pay and we have to pay and we have a good year we have a good year we have that here we have that. If you member what happened in twenty thirteen on the teacher's side we had a handful of very expensive. Cases that. Occurred I really a bad time for the plan and that was one of the reasons that we had problems the same could be true for the pre sixty five population and that this is a challenge for us to manage those costs. thank you. Senate Chesterville you're recognized for a question. There. Break it down for someone who has not been a part of the even though poll sixty five and not been a part of this this program what do current retirees pay This Is Medicare what is the cost of our state plan. We're living are they paying anything a month. Yes so on a public school side they're paying about a hundred dollars a month for retirees for our benefit that is in addition to the amount that they would be paying out of their social security for Medicare Medicare so it's not free no ma'am in this won't be for no what will it cost a month well if the rates are approved and that this contract goes through my proposal will be that the state there's a ninety percent cost share of the Medicare advantage plan ninety percent of the it will be about eighty five dollars a month total the state will pay ninety percent of that which should leave about eight or nine dollars a month for the employee are there any areas that that will happen when you're sending this out and then you're going to tell us that you gonna tell those folks when we when they get that information if you gonna pick up about ninety percent which will translate into a cost of about nine or ten dollars per month and that will that will provide the additional benefit of pharmaceutical drugs which they're currently not getting with the hundred dollars this because I know that some of them when I was paying the supplement for my mother I was paying an enormous amount of money per month out of my pocket because it was important to me that she be okay yes thank you. All right committee see there's no more questions on the board so I want to thank you all for coming up in answering questions been very helpful thank you very much and Committee the Jack I don't know you might need to stay but if you all would go back to appreciate you being here the Committee just. My my opinion of this I looked at this and first question is can I get on this plan but. Because it looks very very good but it. The the problem here is education. And they have a plan to go out in the state and try to educate folks but I think we could help that by going with the data that we've had Presented to us we can help that communication out to the people that are on this plan. and in effect if I'm sorry Mister chair but if I can piggy back on that we do more than happy to alert the members when we will be holding meetings in your districts we would certainly appreciate your tenants and your feedback on on the meetings. Thank you. A. Yes. Retirement and those pension benefits we had meetings across the state is that you're considering having meetings in conjunction with these are things that they're talking about because sometimes when they have a committee meeting people respond more to us than they do craft to. I really can't answer that question the B. team here so we can pass that on to the eighteen Senator Hammer you have a comment. Sir Chesterfield the retirement committee is making plans to do that to pay your background state like we did a few years ago you know where we went around and you know try to offer information so there is conversations about piggy backing up and if nothing else doing our own where they could come in so that it is being discussed thank you okay committee before we move on next discussion want to recognize Rachel the chain that I pronounce that right I know you signed up for questions but it didn't I think your questions have been answered is that right. Okay all right we appreciate you being here presaging signing up Okay. So Committee there has been a protest a timely protest has been filed regarding the employee benefits divisions anticipation to award this contract to United healthcare. so we have to acknowledge that and I would like to ask Mr Ross fees still here I hope to come up in really discuss this and give us some information on the protests that has been lodged. If you would please introduce yourself and and you represent. Metro house the director of the office of state procurement at the department of transmission insured services you're recognized sure so. I think this closed the the period to file a protest closed I think yesterday or today was this morning there was a protest filed Friday so we're in the middle of that process typically in the law when there's a protest we halt contracts moving forward until that protest is resolved. this protest was brought by been instar which the vendor that Jake mentioned earlier then the star was disqualified in this process and that's really the crux of their their protests is that they feel like they should be disqualified and they want to take it back and do another analysis around this. Start the discussions over again. there is a provision in the law that allows me is director of the office of state procurement to allow the contract continue to move forward despite the protest and then we've handled the protests while while the contract continues to move forward. I can do that if that's what the legislature would like to do I think there are some other options on the table potentially the risk with that just to be transparent is that if there is some merit to the protest then you know we would we would have to pull that contract back and kind of go through that process and they would potentially have been some work done in the couple weeks leading up to that that would have to get resolved to start that contracting process over again. That being said the reason we would exercise that clause is because time is of the essence in this particular situation right we talked a lot about communication and outreach and getting that done prior to October open enrollment for these folks is extremely vital we've we work closely with the B. D. and Siegel and others to develop this time line and there's a reason we got it here before this committee in June so that we can get that done So if there is a protest if I don't exercise that Clause there's potential that we hamper this moving forward in a timely manner I believe there's another proposal potentially potentially out there about maybe a motion to by this committee to Allow the chairs to make a decision once the protesters decided. to give you full disclosure to the way the protest works is get the protest in we give the the award the in this case United and the Division EBT an opportunity to respond to that protest statement we give them five days to do that that pushes us to based on when I gave it to EBT and United next Monday once those responses come in we give an opportunity to best are in this case the aggrieved to file a reply we usually give a few days on that as well. And then once I get all of those in I can look through those and and right at the determination that usually takes well I can make it as fast as I need to make it but usually takes a few days but I can I can get it done in a couple. so that's generally timeline and kind of an overview of what that process looks like okay I will recognize my co chair for questions Senator Hammer. Thank you Mr based on what you just said and understand that this is being litigated you may be limited or what you can or can't say but that being said can you tell us why they were excluded. Yes I I'm day why they were excluded I think it's it's public knowledge in this process and all this will become public at some point. the reason that S. P. determined that the star was excluded because they didn't meet the minimum qualifications the communication we gave back to the dentist or is that they failed on two fronts one the R. F. P. required that any vendor be a four star or more vendor Benatar's not a four star vendor. another point is that the R. F. P. had specific technical requirements and that and that was to offer up an inmate PD a solution and I believe of according to my staff and Jake may be able to speak to this more than me the solution that they offered up was not an inmate PD solution to that was the reason that they were disqualified. Okay and follow Mr yes okay thank you. Time frame wise give institution aerials if the same just played out without a recommendation from the committee what would be the outside window you would anticipate it would be for the process to run its full course because you know we've said here today July first the letters going out and and this we're up against the wall number one what would be the shortest time frame if we were to give you what you need in order to make the decision to move forward. Sure so I think before this committee you've got two options you can you can have me exercise that provision in the statute and that would allow this contract continue to move forward and it wouldn't delay anything the only risk there is that if there is some merit to this protest and it's overturned later than we're starting the process all over in this committee would have approved contract that potentially should have been approved right the other option is for that motion to have the chairs approved assuming that once the protesters decided. if you were to go with that option you would be looking at around and I hope my math isn't too fussy here but June twenty eighth or so for me to get that decision done I think that should be the time frame I think I can get that decision out and written by June twenty eighth and then in that scenario I think you would give the authority to shares to say as long as the contract hasn't changed as long as the protesters overturned and and United is still the contractor that that contract can move forward the third option is for me to not exercise this clause and we to us to halt the whole thing we'd have to bring it back next month or next time we get to committee I don't think that is a viable option for the time line thank you. Representative Dotson you're recognized. thank you Mr I'm just in the queue for a motion of the property. I recognize your motion. Yes you're recognized. Seal several years ago when we had this we had several of these protest come up about I think some DHS contracts. They were brought before the committee the individual so at the motion to to challenge and all of that and I'm just wondering what happened to that process that we used in the past of the committee itself could hear what the complaint about the complaint and it to say they would be able to read the individuals who were awarded the contract would be able to respond and then we move forward it was not all in the hands of the procurement director so that's that's the process that we had in the past so if we have something else but it was just interesting to note that this committee had some I don't know if it was this committee are a committee I remember working Wardlaw on this a representative what alone this what we came before the committee we hurt to comply we heard them bring it to us and it wasn't just a one person shall so there's represented Wardlaw presses institutional knowledge as I can answer that represent more money getting input on that. I'm here Wardlaw. I don't I might of. I'm going to turn to the bureau for signal yeah correct me where US mess this up. So we rode the Law Center Chesterfield that gave this committee this authority we took the contracts for EBT won't go to review they come to here so in yeah I think what you were going was typically this type conversation would happen in review. I've met with of Mr rouse yesterday and kind of went through how this process would work The original way he was going approach this committee today this column's bother me because I can't see your but the original way he was going to purchase committee today was with the letter and he has the authority to write a letter that gives us the authority to go ahead and review this contract I advised him that my personal feeling was we didn't want to proceed that way because I didn't want to put members of council as chair of council I feel responsible and Senator Rice was there as well and you can key in here any moment I didn't want to put members of council in a position to where we were reviewing a contract that was under protest. That could grow legs so could have merit I use legal terms. Even though we were being told some other things and that and we can bring Jake believes that they was yeah I want to hear some of that Because I at Mitch can't say some that causes the final arbitrator of this proceeding so I want to keep it legal. So our way around that was is that may be a motion to be made that wants this thing was found to have no merit the chairs of council would then have the authority to sign it as reviewed I just didn't want to put our members in a position to take a vote that we may be led down the wrong road I want to make sure that everything was looked at and everything was was done in the legal process was followed before we actually review this contract. I hope that makes sense. Mr. Yes go up first I wish you'd get from a hand this stupid wall of. I didn't pick up on this thing clear are you saying that this committee should say go ahead and proceed with the process that this gentleman from procurement is saying is that what you're saying just simple yes or no. It was not that simple well the answer is almost as simple knishes yeah I believe what you're saying is correct so if you don't I want to move on and I want to ask representative Dotson to make his motion and then we'll have some discussion I just wanted to know is a member of council I want to be as informed as I can possibly be so that I can make an intelligent decision when this comes before the council and perhaps is the motion will clarify because I'm still not sure exactly what nine year was trying to tell you that's what I wanna do is have the motion so there but I would hear that and the details maybe that'll help answer some other questions so representative Johnson you're recognized for your motion. Thank you Mr chair I move that they'll see cochairs be granted the authority to review review the contract between EBT and United healthcare related to the MA PD coverage for retirees upon receipt of the administrative protest determination from the OS director if the determination is received by June thirty twenty twenty two and the contract with United healthcare is unchanged from the contract presented to the subcommittee today. To have second. I have a second. the discussion on the motion. All right seeing no discussion. All in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. All opposed nay. Is haven't motion carries. So. Thank you thank you all for your comments thank you. A committee will one more item of business suggested meeting dates and times for the subcommittee for the remaining months of the year in your packets you have those dates that are said one thing on there needs to be changed in July Council was moved. A week back so the July thirteenth meeting will be moved to the twentieth. And you can look at that if if something changes their emails will be sent out on that. So with that that's all we had on the agenda so we are adjourned.