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MONTANA MUNICIPAL INTERLOCAL AUTHORITY
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TO: MMIA Empl
oyee Benefit Program Member Entities
MEMORANDUM 1111IF1111,
FEB l 6 2010
FROM: Amanda Clark, MMIA EB Program Manager
DATE: February 11, 2010 L
RE: Early EB Rate Adjustment Indication for 2010-2011
The MMIA Employee Benefits program will set and send out the preliminary rates for our
medical, dental and vision plans at the beginning of April, and will release the final rates for
these plans at the beginning of May. However, due to the requirement for members to give the
MMIA notification by March 1 s' if they plan to withdraw from the program, we are providing an
early indication of our estimated rate adjustment for the upcoming 2010-2011 coverage year,
based on the most current claim data.
While there are still several months of claims which could impact our final rates either positively
or negatively, the actuarial review of the claims data through the end of January suggests that a
base rate increase of between 8-11 % for the medical plans would be appropriate. At this time,
the dental and vision programs do not appear to require any rate adjustment for the 2010-2011
coverage year. These rate indications.are non-binding and are meant only to provide
preliminary information for early decision making.
Per the Employee Benefits Program Agreements, each participating member commits to
participating in the program for five years. After that initial commitment, a member entity
automatically renews their participation in the program for each succeeding coverage year,
unless the member provides written notice of their desire to withdraw from the program at least
120 days notice prior to the start of the next coverage year. This means that a member that has
participated for at least five years and wishes to withdraw from the program as of June 30 must
send written notice to the MMIA Board of Directors by March 1st. Any member that does
withdraw from the program will not be-eiigib e. to apply-to-rejoin-the, program fora period of three
years. Final rates are set after any notifications of withdrawal have been received, so that the
actuary can rate appropriately, including the impact of changed participation levels.
Please also note, Open Enrollment for the program will be from May 15th to June 15th. This time
period is the opportunity for employees to elect coverage changes, such as adding or dropping
a dependent. If your entity allows individuals to choose between plan options, employees may
also change their plan elections at this time. Prior to the start of Open Enrollment, your entity
may also elect different benefit plan choices to offer your employees. You may choose to open
up the medical plans to individual selection, or perhaps change the dental plan offered to the
group..1 will send out group election forms in the coming months. Please feel free to. contact
me if you have any questions regarding the benefit plan choices available to your entity.
The Employee Benefits Program. Agreement can be found on our website at www.mmia.net,
under the Employee Benefits tab and then the Program Documents tab. Please let me know if
you have any further questions regarding program participation, the 2010-2011 coverage year,
or open enrollment.