Attorney General Mark Bennett told the Hawaii Supreme Court last month that health benefits provided retired state and county workers are not among the retirement benefits the State Constitution protects from being “diminished or impaired”. Bennett said health benefits are not administered by the Employee Retirement System and therefore fall outside of the benefits provided [...]
Tags: EUTF·Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund·Mark Bennett·Paul Alston
The major public worker unions are are placing a special emphasis on bills to be introduced in the 2010 legislative session aimed at “reforming or changing” the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, according to a UH Professional Assembly newsletter. UHPA reports: The language will allow for new structures for providing benefit packages and improve the [...]
At last week’s meeting of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, it was publicly announced that approximately 21,000 members submitted forms to move to the PPO health plan administered by HMSA instead of staying with the “default” HMA plan. If that’s still true when all the smoke clears, it will mean HMSA held on [...]
Tags: EUTF·Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund·HMA·HMSA
With just two weeks left for state and county workers and retirees to verify that their dependents, if any, are eligible to continue to receive health insurance provided by the State Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, there are more signs that the verification process is flawed. Elderly retirees, in particular, may face serious issues, especially [...]
Tags: EUTF·Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund·Health care
An official of the small company that recently displaced HMSA as administrator of the “default” preferred provider health plan for state and county workers says HMSA’s corporate arrogance and a string of bad strategic decisions are responsible for the nonprofit insurer’s recent problems. Harris Nakamoto, vice-president and general manager of HMA Inc., a health plan [...]
Tags: Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund·EUTF·HMA·HMSA·Summerlin
Trustees of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund are expected to vote today in a closed executive session on whether to penalized the state’s largest health insurer for what EUTF has called “unauthorized and inaccurate information” distributed in advertisements and mailings during November’s “open enrollment” period. The action stems from a widely circulated email [...]
Tags: EUTF·Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund·HMSA
Turns out there’s a lot more going on at the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF) than the recent dispute with HMSA. A review of recent minutes shows the EUTF board has struggled with a string of monthly losses earlier in the year, serious disagreements on revised plans and rates, concerns over the state’s [...]
