Benefits May 15, 2002

Workers to Make More Health Choices in 2002

May 15, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - US workers can expect two things to happen to their employer-provided health benefits in the next year or so: They'll have to make more consumer decisions about their insurance needs and shell out more to pay for the coverage.
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Some 43% of employers responding to a poll of large employers by Watson Wyatt and the Washington Business Group on Health said they plan to increase the level of “consumerism” in their health plans during 2002. That compares with 19% that currently have such systems in place.

Not only that, many companies are no longer willing to absorb the often-crushing cost increases for health coverage.

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The survey found that with health benefit costs expected to skyrocket by 14% this year, only a third of respondents say they will pick up the cost difference. That 34% is far fewer than the 50% willing to absorb the higher costs last year.

To help get employees ready for a more expensive environment in which they will be asked to make more health-care decisions, companies are increasingly planning education drives, the survey found.

For example,

  • 32% said they planned to give workers more information this year, compared to the 33% who say they are already doing so,
  • nearly a third said they will disseminate information on specific health-care issues, compared to the 25% who do so now, and
  • 18% will give out information on provider quality, compared to 17 this year 
     

The survey covered 292 large employers.

Copies of the survey are available on the Watson Wyatt Web site .

Benefits May 14, 2002

Milwaukee Pension Flap Sparks Criminal Charges

May 14, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Milwaukee County's former personnel chief was charged with official misconduct for his role in the adoption of a controversial pension plan that sparked a political furor and led to the former county executive's resignation.
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According to an Associated Press news report, former personnel chief Gary Dobbert misrepresented the cost of the pension plan to county board members – a plan that would have given Dobbert a $353,000 payout in addition to $5,300 in monthly payments.

Without the new plan, Dobbert, the plan’s principal author, would have only gotten $5,900 in monthly payments and no lump sum payout.

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The Dobbert proposal would have also given similar large payouts to other high-ranking officials.

Total Recall

The uproar sparked when the implications of the Dobbert plan came to light, prompted Dobbert to step down from his post in January and former county executive Thomas Ament to resign a month later in the face of a recall petition that garnered twice the number of necessary signatures (see Milwaukee County Exec Steps Down ). Other county officials also stepped aside in the midst of the controversy (see Pumped Pension Payouts Prompt Resignations ).

Some employees are still receiving payouts under the plan. Employees cannot be denied the payouts unless they voluntarily sign waivers, as Ament did before his resignation.

The pension changes will cost the county’s 2003 budget about $10 million, said Steve Mokrohisky, spokesman for current County Executive Scott Walker.

Dobbert is charged with three counts of misconduct in public office. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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