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.