Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
12:15 p.m. — 1:30 p.m.
Day Hall Board Room

I. Call to Order and Introductions

M. Esposito called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.

Attendance Present: T. Calvert, D. Darby, J. DeMarco, M. Esposito, B. Goodell, D. Howland, S. Johnson, C.J Lance-Duboscq, M. Overstrom, A. Vail, C. Woodward, J Worden

‘ ’Absent:” T. Hoebbel,

Others present: C. Gardner, K. Riley, A. Motlagh, M. Moschella, G. Brandt

II.Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the September 1, 1999 meeting were approved as submitted.

III. Open Forum

M. Esposito thanked A. Vail for making the arrangements for the parliamentary workshop and said that it was very informative.

J. DeMarco stated that there would be a contest for a new design for the EA logo. He said that the contest would be judged by the Communications Committee and the graphic advisory would be judging and finalizing the logo. He added that the contest was open to the entire community and that there would be prizes set up for the winners.

G. Brandt stated that there was a formal request for allocation for the hockey tournament on Feb. 11th. He said there would be basketball game held afterward and food will be served.

M. Overstrom asked whether chicken would be served?

G. Brandt answered that chicken wouldn’t be served due to several reasons.

C. Lance-Duboscq stated that she and several others attended a meeting with Lynette Chappell-Williams, Office of Equal Opportunity Director, and that Campus Climate was adopting a new statement. She said that input from the EA was requested and that the mission statement would be used as the framework.

M. Overstrom asked whether input was requested from individuals or as a group?

C. Lance-Duboscq answered that input was requested as a group.

M. Overstrom asked whether email was the preferred choice for input?

C. Lance-Duboscq answered that it was and that emails would be grouped together.

C. Gardner asked whether the basis of the discussion and the statement was the same as the one handed out by Campus Climate, drafted by Dean Ford?

D. Darby answered that it was.

IV. Business Of The Day

a. University Benefits Update — The Future

Paul Bursic, Director of Benefit Services, distributed a sample copy of the open enrollment materials, which he explained would be sent to Cornell employees the end of October. He reported that endowed employees would soon have an array of three different health care plans and an optional dental plan to choose from. He explained that Aetna Managed Choice is to be eliminated and replaced with a plan called HealthNow. HealthNow participants will select a primary care provider, similar to the old Managed Choice plan. This plan offers the highest level of services with least cost and is an improvement over the Managed Choice with some higher levels of coverage. The 80/20 plan which will continue to be offered, is the most costly, but offers maximum flexibility. The third option is new and called Open Choice; this plan offers the flexibility of self-referral and has the broadest national network. If an employee stays in-network, 90% of the charges are covered. If the employee goes out of network, the plan reimburses at 70%. The premium for Open Choice is more than that for HealthNow because the flexibility of self-referral is more costly, but is less than the 80/20 plan. Managed Choice will cease to exist as of December 31, 1999.

P. Bursic explained that the life insurance plan has also changed. Cigna will remain the life insurance provider, but the systems have been updated and Cigna will be taking on more of an administrative role. They will be opening up more communication with participants instead of having people talk to a computer. He added that the present supplemental life plan would become Group Universal Life (GUL) which takes Supplemental Life and wraps in added features. During open enrollment, employees can join without proof of insurability and obtain coverage up to one times their salary. Supplemental Life has been offered to Statutory as well as Endowed employees for years and GUL will also be offered to both employee groups. A Cash Accumulation Fund, which uses after-tax dollars for life insurance, will also be offered and is designed for intermediate to long term savings that can be borrowed against without tax penalties. The growth of the fund or interest earned is not subject to current taxation.

C. Gardner asked if an employee didn’t have life insurance now, could they obtain it during this open enrollment period?

P. Bursic answered that they would have to fill out forms and could get as much as they needed. However, they could only get one times their annual salary unless proof of insurability was obtained. If this was obtained, which would require a physical, up to 10 times their annual salary could be obtained.

T. Calvert asked if a person could go from 0 to 1 without proof?

P. Bursic answered yes, unless Cigna has already turned down the person, then he/she couldn’t apply and obtain coverage.

B. Goodell asked what the qualifications and stipulations were to go higher up in the insurance?

P. Bursic answered that unlike the open market, this program didn’t ask a lot of questions for advancement.

D. Darby asked where basic information and staff could be reached?

P. Bursic answered that there was one number to call for information: 255–3936. He added that different people answered different levels of questions. He added that the program was very flexible and provided the opportunity to reach protection goals.

P. Bursic then explained that the new Group Dental Plan was a fully insured plan and that endowed employees had the choice of a higher or lower plan depending on their needs. He said that the program had basic and major coverage and that the premiums were spread out over 24 payments over the year. He added that the plan was fully insured and that its cost (premium) reflected an administrative fee (10%) plus the cost of dental procedures for participants (90%).

D. Darby asked whether the maximum benefit was $1,000 per person?

P. Bursic answered that yes it was; he explained the plan has a 4 tier structure; single, employee and spouse, employee and children, and employee and family with the maximum premium being $40 per pay period for employee and family with a maximum benefit of $1,000.00 per person.

M. Overstrom asked whether the University was going to pay for part of the dental coverage premium?

P. Bursic answered that there is no Cornell contribution to this plan.

C. Woodard asked whether a statutory employee had access to this dental plan?

P. Bursic answered it is only available to the endowed employees.

D. Darby asked why it took so long for the changes to occur and for a dental plan to be offered?

P. Bursic answered that they couldn’t implement the program with the outdated Legacy system and that they waited until PeopleSoft was available.

B. Goodell asked whether employees with other dental insurance plans would get discounts from this plan and possibly reimbursement?

P. Bursic answered that the two plans would work together depending on the other plan’s structure.

When asked whether employees could enroll in the program at anytime, P. Bursic answered that they could enroll during open enrollment. If, however, a person signs up for the dental plan after this initial open enrollment period, the person enters as a late entrant. Late entrants do not pay a higher premium, but do have longer waiting periods for most services after they join.

P. Bursic pointed out the premiums for two endowed employees in a family and stated that the Aetna Managed Choice program would no longer be available starting December 31, 1999. He said that HealthNow would replace this program and HealthNow would be better run. He added that Aetna has good rates and a large broadcast choice but that it didn’t take a great part in the management. He explained that HealthNow is a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan, has the same network of physicians as Aetna, but includes even more like Schuyler County and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. He then explained that the prescription plan had changed with an increase in the co-pay and HealthNow included a $7 co-pay at Rite-Aid, Wegmans, K-Mart, etc. CVS and Eckerd can be used, but they are out-of-network pharmacies that cost more to use.

B. Goodell asked whether the plan would be available at Walgreen?

P. Bursic answered it would not.

B. Goodell asked whether the plan provided free prescription?

P. Bursic answered that the HealthNow plan included $7 co-pay at the counter.

M. Esposito asked what would happen with people that didn’t respond to the new plan?

P. Bursic answered that if a current 80/20 health plan participant does not respond, he or she would continue coverage under the 80/20 Plan. Those currently enrolled in Aetna Managed Choice who do not respond will automatically be enrolled in the new HealthNow POS Plan.

b. President’s Address to University Employees

M. Overstrom stated that at the President’s Address there would be two EA at each entrance at 11:45 a.m. wearing red and greeting the attendees.

S. Johnson asked whether the speech would be videotaped?

M. Overstrom answered that there would be a cost to this and she was unsure if this could be done. In response to S. Johnson’s question as to whether the EA wanted to audiotape the speech, she responded that audio taping the speech would be fine.

C. Gardner added that the text of the speech could be obtained and printed in the PawPrint as well.

C. Lance-Duboscq asked whether the members of the EA would go down to Trillium once the speech had ended?

M. Overstrom answered that the EA members would stay up in the hall outside the auditorium to mingle with those that attended. MI.

V. Old Business

a. Social ad hoc

D. Darby talked about the Happy Hours for the Chapter House. She said she needed to know the dates and days that were better than others for those attending. She added that they would order out and bring the food to the Chapter House and people would be emailed with more info. DI.

VI. Report From The Chair

J. DeMarco stated that Employee Day was on February 12, 2000 and that it was right after the hockey tournament. He added following the football Employee Day in October suggestions were made to change things for the better that will be reviewed and implemented.

D. Darby added that it was important to get feedback from people who were at the Employee Day festivities. DI.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Ali Motlagh.