Legislature(1997 - 1998)
01/22/1998 08:00 AM House STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
January 22, 1998
8:00 a.m.
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
NYLCARE HEARING
TAPES
98-4, SIDES A & B
98-5, SIDE A
CALL TO ORDER
Representative James, Chair, convened the House State Affairs
Committee meeting at 8:00 a.m.
PRESENT
Committee members present were Representatives James, Berkowitz,
Elton, Hodgins, and Vezey. Other legislators present were
Representatives Bunde and Davies.
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION
REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES, CHAIR, gave the following opening
statement:
"Thank you all for participating in this hearing regarding NYL (New
York Life) Care coverage.
"This is an opportunity for ALL sides of the situation to listen to
each other's concerns.
"Please try to keep your testimony as brief as possible. (I have
set a two-minute limit but will allow some latitude.) And please
submit a written documented copy of your testimony by handing it to
the committee aide, or by fax or letter. Any information provided
today will become part of the public record unless you indicate on
written testimony that you wish it to be kept confidential.
"First, we will hear from the administrators of the program, both
NYLCare personnel and state of Alaska personnel.
"Second, we will invite public testimony from consumers (employees
covered by NYLCare) and from providers (doctors, dentists,
pharmacists).
"Member of this State Affairs Committee are invited to comment or
ask questions at any time during the hearing.
"I was told that many problems have recently been solved by
NYLCare. If this is true, I would like NYLCare to tell us if
there is a threshold date prior to which all of the issues or
concerns have been successfully concluded. Then we can ask
participants to state at the beginning of their testimony whether
their problem occurred before or after that date.
"In two weeks we will have a follow-up hearing. At that time, I
hope NYLCare and the state Administration will address each
specific problem brought up today and let us know their solutions.
If there is a better way for consumers and providers to avoid
misunderstandings in the future, we want that to be part of the
overall solution."
ALISON ELGEE, with the Alaska Department of Administration,
presented the Administration's position regarding NYLCare coverage
and discussed the state's recent change to self-insurance and the
state's claim process.
MIKE WIGGINS, Director of Programs with NYLCare, presented
NYLCare's position, stating he is looking forward to ironing the
bugs out.
CHAIR JAMES stated she felt state employees had been misled into
thinking NYLCare would offer the same coverage as the previous
insurance company, and she was disappointed to discover this is
not true.
REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE, Alaska State Legislator, discussed
problems he and his wife have had with NYLCare. He voiced a
concern that NYLCare makes money by delaying payments.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN DAVIES, Alaska State Legislator, outlined
problems he and his family have had with NYLCare. He also
discussed confusion regarding the recovery account, stating he has
put money in the account but is unable to get it out, and
mentioned problems with NYL Care's coverage of "step-families."
MARTHA MOORE, Juneau resident, told the committee about her
problems with NYLCare, stating that she now pays more money for
less coverage.
PAT WELLINGTON, Chair of the Alaska PERS (Public Employees
Retirement System) Board, discussed retirees' coverage via
teleconference from Anchorage.
CHAIR JAMES read into the record a statement regarding problems
with retirees' coverage from Denny DeWitt, Legislative Assistant
to Representative Eldon Mulder.
JANET PARKER, Deputy Director of the Alaska Division of Retirement
and Benefits, responded to concerns about retirees' coverage.
DALE MCKIERNAN of North Pole testified via teleconference from
Fairbanks about his problems with NYLCare's retiree coverage.
CANDY CORCORAN, employed in Juneau by Dr. Henry Akiyama, presented
problems that health care providers are having with NYLCare. She
stated "double coverage is a nightmare" and added that
communication is the key and the state needs to take partial blame
for the problems. She said in Dr. Akiyama's office they have
about $50,000 additional "float" in accounts receivable because of
the change to NYLCare coverage, plus the cost of hiring additional
accounting personnel.
CHAIR JAMES referred to a letter from North Pole Prescription
Laboratory as an example of problems which pharmacists are having
with NYLCare.
REBECCA DEAN, Administrator of the Tanana Valley Clinic in
Fairbanks and representative for 32 health care providers,
testified via teleconference in Fairbanks about the myriad
difficulties doctors are having with NYLCare. She added that the
clinic is having problems fulfilling its mission statement because
of NYLCare.
LINDA SALMI, Business Manager of the Tanana Valley Clinic in
Fairbanks, verified Ms. Dean's testimony and added more details.
She noted that Tanana Valley Clinic carries an additional $30,000
float per month now under NYLCare.
ROGER BLACKETT testified via teleconference in Kodiak regarding
problems he is having with NYLCare as a retired state employee,
and the confusion caused because his wife is still an active state
employee covered by NYLCare.
JANET DOWNING, who is covered by NYLCare under a COBRA extension,
testified via teleconference in Fairbanks, referring to her letter
which was in the committee members' packets.
TOM MANNINEN, Legislative Aide to Representative Mark Hodgins,
presented difficulties he and his family have had with their
NYLCare coverage.
SHIRLEY ARMSTRONG, Legislative Aide to Representative Norm
Rokeberg, discussed her problems with NYLCare.
MELINDA HOFSTAD, Legislative Aide to Representative Bill Hudson,
testified concerning constituent problems with NYLCare's mail
order prescription policies, noting that there is now an incentive
to order out-of-state. She added that after extensive research
she could discover no appreciable savings to the state under
NYLCare.
GARY CADD, Legislative Aide to Representative Mark Hodgins,
presented his problems with NYLCare.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A follow-up NYLCare hearing will be held Tuesday, February 3,
1998, at 8:00 a.m.
COMMITTEE ACTION
The committee took no action.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIR JAMES adjourned the meeting at 10:00 a.m.
NOTE:
The meeting was recorded and handwritten log notes were taken. A
copy of the tape(s) and log notes may be obtained by contacting
the House Records Office at 130 Seward Street, Suite 211, Juneau,
Alaska 99801-1182, (907) 465-2214, and after adjournment of the
second session of the Twentieth Alaska State Legislature, in the
Legislative Reference Library.
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