The Implementation Notice

The appropriate public authority shall give the written notice required in M.G.L. c. 32B, § 21(b) to the insurance advisory committee in accordance with 801 CMR 52.02(2)(a) and, not later than two business days following the appropriate public authority's receipt of notice of the representatives of the public employee committee under 801 CMR 52.02(2)(d), to each public employee committee representative identified by the collective bargaining units and the RSCME. The notice shall include the following information: (a) the proposed changes to the political subdivision's health insurance benefits, including: 1. a description of the political subdivision's current health insurance plans and each plan's co-pays, deductibles and other cost-sharing plan design features, enrollment (broken out by enrollment in individual, individual plus one, and family plans), annual premium total cost, and percentage of premium total cost paid by political subdivision; 2. a description of the proposed changes, including: a. the earliest practical date for implementing the changes under law; b. each plan to be offered, and the projected enrollment under each plan, including continued projected enrollment for subscribers covered by existing collective bargaining agreements that specify plan design features; retirees enrolled and being transferred for the first time to Medicare under M.G.L. c. 32B, § 18A and Medicare supplemental health insurance plans; and subscribers moved to the new, proposed insurance plans; and c. the proposed dollar amounts for each plan's co-pays, deductibles and other cost-sharing plan design features. A proposal shall not include a health benefit plan design feature which seeks to achieve premium savings by offering a limited network of providers unless the appropriate public authority also offers a health benefit plan to all subscribers that does not contain a limited network of providers. (b) the co-payments, deductibles, tiered provider network co-payments and other cost-sharing plan design features for the same or most similar benefits of the non-Medicare plan and the co-payments, deductibles, and other cost-sharing plan design features for the same or most similar benefits of the Medicare-extension plan with the largest subscriber enrollment offered by the Commission, as provided by the Commission under M.G.L. c. 32B, § 28; (c) the appropriate public authority's estimate of anticipated savings of such changes and the supporting information and analysis, including but not limited to: 1. the total projected premium costs and enrollment of plans under the existing coverage for the first 12-month period in which the appropriate public authority seeks to make changes as if no such changes were made, 2. the anticipated total projected premium costs of plans, including plans with the proposed changes, and anticipated enrollment for the same 12-month period, 3. the analysis that the appropriate public authority has to support its estimate of savings and the projected premium costs which may include quotes or bids from any insurance plan, third party administrator or insurance broker regarding the total premium cost of such plans with and without the proposed changes; demographic data regarding the number of employees, the number of subscribers, the number of subscribers enrolled in non-Medicare plans (by coverage - family or individual) and Medicare-extension plans; any data regarding out-of-pocket costs paid by subscribers; and any other factors relied upon by the appropriate public authority, including any information provided by an actuary or other consultant in developing the savings estimate. If the appropriate public authority has indicated that it is considering transferring to the commission, it shall include in its analysis the estimates regarding plan choice that sub­ scribers will make if transferred to the commission. The savings estimate shall not take into account: savings resulting from transferring eligible retirees to Medicare under M.G.L. c. 32B, § 18A, but the savings estimate shall include savings due to proposed increases in dollar amounts for co-pays and deductibles for Medicare-extension plans under M.G.L. c. 32B, § 22 or the savings resulting from the transfer to Commission's medicare extension plans under M.G.L. c. 32B, § 23. The savings estimate shall be calculated based on the number of subscribers who will be covered under the proposed plans, including subscribers covered by existing collective bargaining agreements for whom implementation of the proposed changes would be delayed under St. 2011, c. 69, § 4. The appropriate public authority shall allocate funds to the mitigation plan in proportion to the number of total subscribers who will be covered under the proposed plan, with additional funds allocated when the plan changes are implemented for additional subscribers. Subscribers will not be eligible for mitigation funds before they are transferred to the new plans. If the proposed change involves a transfer of health insurance coverage of subscribers to the commission, the savings estimate shall be based on a determination of maximum possible savings. (d) the mitigation proposal, including: 1. the estimate of the cost to fund the proposal and what percentage that cost is of the savings; 2. an explanation and rationale for the proposal; 3. the manner in which it affects various subscribers, including those disproportionately affected; 4. the manner of distribution or allocation of estimated savings from the proposal.