Health program makes it into the black

Friday, Jan. 4, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state employees health insurance program, which covers 55,000 workers, dependents and retirees, is in the black for the first time in several years.

An audit of the system showed a balance of $400,000 as of the past fiscal year. In June 2000 the system was $700,000 in the red.

The report was presented Thursday to the directors of state Public Employees' Benefits Program, which manages the system that has incurred a deficit over about the past five years, said Darsi Casey of the accounting firm Kuckenmeister, Bayliss, Casey & Allen LLC of Carson City.

Casey said the system collected $138.6 million in premiums and had expenses of $138.4 million this past fiscal year. She said the surplus was due to "better management of their assets." Part of the $400,000 cushion comes from a higher income on the investments.

In a separate report, Segal Co., the system's actuary, said there was an upward spike in medical claims paid in October and November. For the first nine months of the year, an average of 46,617 claims were paid each month. For October and November, the monthly average was 52,852.

Lewis Emanuelson, a vice president for Segal Co., said one reason could be that UICI, which pays the claims for the state, may have made a "concerted effort" to quickly process claims.

The good news is that the average claim paid since January 2000 has remained at $180, despite the inflationary rise in medical costs and prescription drugs.

The report also showed that 13 people in the state health system this year had bills of more than $100,000. The highest was $266,946 for a child who was treated at University of California-Davis Medical Center.