September 27, 2024
by Michael R. Wickline | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The state Board of Finance on Friday approved revised rates for state government and public school retirees in the group Medicare Advantage with prescription drug plan for calendar year 2025.
United Healthcare offers the group Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage through the state government and public school employee health insurance plans to Medicare-eligible retirees, who have the option of selecting that coverage or coverage from the traditional Health Advantage plan.
The state’s Employee Benefits Division started offering group Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage during calendar year 2023.
The division “requested to revisit the initial rates for 2025 in response to changes made to the Medicare Advantage program and Part D (prescription drug plans) as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2023,” the division said in its memo to the state Board of Finance.
Grant Wallace, director of the Employee Benefits Division, said the division has been able to negotiate lower rates of the United Healthcare contract than those previously approved by the state Board of Finance this summer.
The Medicare-eligible retirees in the state employee plan with United Healthcare’s Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage would contribute $22.03 a month rather than $22.53 a month under the 2025 rates approved by the state Board of Finance on Friday.
The Medicare-eligible retirees in the public school employee plan with United Healthcare Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage would contribute $14.03 a month rather than $14.53 a month under the 2025 rates approved Friday by the state Board of Finance.
With the original renewal rate increase of $50 per member per month, the cost was $5.1 million for the state plan and $4.7 million for the public school plan, the state Division of Employee Benefits said in its memo to the state Board of Finance.
“With the new negotiated rate increase of $45 (per member per month), the cost will be $4.6 million for the state plan and $4.2 million for public school plan,” the division said.
But this “still results in an increase of $8.8 million total to the plan for plan year 2025 …,” the division said in its memo to the state Board of Finance.
The calendar year 2025 rates approved Friday by the state Board of Finance for Medicare-eligible retirees in the state employee and public school health insurance plans with United Healthcare’s Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage would be an increase over the rates approved in May by the Legislative Council.
The Legislative Council’s Employee Benefits Division Oversight Subcommittee will consider the revised rates during its Oct. 7 meeting, said Marty Garrity, director of the Bureau of Legislative Research.
In May, the Legislative Council approved rates for calendar year 2025 in the state employee plan under which the 5,397 Medicare-eligible retirees with retiree-only coverage through United Healthcare’s Medicare Advantage with a prescription drug coverage plan would contribute $17.72 a month — up from their contribution of $17.03 a month in 2024 — and the 3,185 Medicare-eligible retirees with retiree-only coverage through Health Advantage would contribute $256.34 a month in 2025, an increase from their contribution of $233.04 a month in 2024.
At that time, the council also approved rates for calendar year 2025 in the public school employee plan under which the 6,130 retirees with retiree-only coverage through United Healthcare’s Medicare Advantage with a prescription drug coverage plan would pay $9.03 a month in 2025 — the same level as in 2024 — and the 8,712 Medicare-eligible retirees with retiree-only coverage in the Health Advantage plan would pay $121.98 a month in 2025 — the same rate as in 2024.
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