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Health Service Board approves routine changes, lifts transgender benefit lifetime cap
Summary
The Health Service Board approved several administrative items including adopting membership-rule edits, changes to Section 125 of the cafeteria plan, election of officers and committee appointments, and unanimously removed a lifetime limit on gender-reassignment benefits for covered plans.
The San Francisco Health Service Board on a unanimous vote approved multiple administrative and benefits items and removed a lifetime cap on gender-reassignment benefits for active and early-retiree plans.
The board approved editorial changes to membership rules and regulations to align eligibility with the Affordable Care Act, clarify retiree eligibility for hires after Jan. 10, 2009, set standards for surviving dependents of safety officers, allow termination of benefits when members are unreachable for over one year, clarify Medicare enrollment rules for dependents, and confirm Cal-COBRA eligibility and coverage periods for Feb. 2014. "I move that we adopt the changes to the health services membership rules and regulations," an unidentified board member said; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
The board also approved editorial revisions to Section 125 of the cafeteria plan effective Jan. 1, 2014. The vote on that action was unanimous.
On Item 5, Acting Director Lisa Gottby told the board that a February memo from the Department of Managed Health Care prohibits lifetime limits on gender-reassignment benefits for plans licensed under that department and recommended lifting the lifetime cap across the Health Service System’s products. "This is ... mandated," Gottby said of the Kaiser and Blue Shield changes. The board moved, seconded, and unanimously approved removal of the lifetime cap for Plan 1. The acting director noted the third product not licensed under the Department of Managed Health Care would require a board decision to align benefits across all products.
The board elected Karen Breslin as president and Willie Lim as vice president for fiscal year 2013–2014 and approved appointments to committees including the Rates & Benefits committee (committee of the whole, chaired by Commissioner Scott) and the Finance & Budget committee (chaired by Supervisor Farrell). All procedural motions recorded in the meeting passed without recorded opposition.
The board deferred a presentation of the Blue Shield dashboard to the Sept. 12 meeting because the item was not ready for this month.
Votes recorded in the meeting matched the motions on the agenda and were unanimous where noted. The board closed the meeting after public comment and adjourned.
