San Francisco Health Service System board approves rule and cafeteria-plan revisions, cancels October meeting
September 14, 2023 | San Francisco City, San Francisco County, California
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The San Francisco Health Service System Board voted unanimously Sept. 14 to approve a set of revisions to its member rules and the Section 125 cafeteria plan for plan year 2024, and to cancel the board's regular October meeting because it coincides with the city's open-enrollment period.
The board approved changes the chief operating officer described as clarifying and modernizing plan administration. The revisions add members of the Homeless Oversight Commission to the list of eligible boards and commissions, reinstate a section on subsidies for surviving dependents that had been deleted after 2011, and clarify application of the cited California labor-code provision for surviving dependents of safety members. The proposal also adds new voluntary race-and-ethnicity data collection for Medicare-eligible members to comply with a recent CMS request, and corrects a typographical error so that new-dependent enrollments are processed within 30 days (the draft incorrectly said 60 days).
Ray Guillen, SFHSS chief operating officer, told the board the package also gives the board future flexibility to declare an active open enrollment or shorten enrollment windows when introducing new plans; it removes an outdated requirement to collect members'secondary-insurance information. "These are options the board would have in the future," Guillen said during the presentation.
President Scott entertained a motion to approve the rules and the cafeteria plan. Commissioner Follinsby moved the proposal; another commissioner seconded. The board then conducted a roll-call vote and approved the measures unanimously.
Separately, the board unanimously approved the minutes of the Aug. 10, 2023 meeting and voted to cancel the regular October 2023 Health Service Board meeting, a long-standing practice to avoid adding to staff workload during open enrollment. President Scott said the cancellation is intended to reduce burdens on operations staff during a period of heavy member service activity.
What's next: SFHSS staff said they will bring the finalized text and any remaining editorial corrections back to the board paperwork and post the updated member rules and cafeteria-plan documents for plan-year 2024 implementation.
Speakers quoted in this report are drawn from the meeting transcript and include President Scott and COO Ray Guillen.
The board approved changes the chief operating officer described as clarifying and modernizing plan administration. The revisions add members of the Homeless Oversight Commission to the list of eligible boards and commissions, reinstate a section on subsidies for surviving dependents that had been deleted after 2011, and clarify application of the cited California labor-code provision for surviving dependents of safety members. The proposal also adds new voluntary race-and-ethnicity data collection for Medicare-eligible members to comply with a recent CMS request, and corrects a typographical error so that new-dependent enrollments are processed within 30 days (the draft incorrectly said 60 days).
Ray Guillen, SFHSS chief operating officer, told the board the package also gives the board future flexibility to declare an active open enrollment or shorten enrollment windows when introducing new plans; it removes an outdated requirement to collect members'secondary-insurance information. "These are options the board would have in the future," Guillen said during the presentation.
President Scott entertained a motion to approve the rules and the cafeteria plan. Commissioner Follinsby moved the proposal; another commissioner seconded. The board then conducted a roll-call vote and approved the measures unanimously.
Separately, the board unanimously approved the minutes of the Aug. 10, 2023 meeting and voted to cancel the regular October 2023 Health Service Board meeting, a long-standing practice to avoid adding to staff workload during open enrollment. President Scott said the cancellation is intended to reduce burdens on operations staff during a period of heavy member service activity.
What's next: SFHSS staff said they will bring the finalized text and any remaining editorial corrections back to the board paperwork and post the updated member rules and cafeteria-plan documents for plan-year 2024 implementation.
Speakers quoted in this report are drawn from the meeting transcript and include President Scott and COO Ray Guillen.
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