•TPEA Urges Freeze on Outsourcing
•Brown-Heatley Building TPEA Outreach
•A Message from ERS: Don’t pass up on TexFlex
•Summer Enrollment for State Employees-July 26 to August 20

Texas Public Employees Association wants state employees to be aware of legislative activities and developments affecting your job and career.

TPEA is sending this message to our members and to state employees who have participated at TPEA events and given us their e-mail addresses. TPEA also requested and received e-mail addresses as public information from a number of state agencies.

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REMEMBER: STATE EMPLOYEES SHOULD NOT USE STATE EQUIPMENT OR STATE TIME TO ENGAGE IN ANY TYPE OF LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY EFFORTS. This message should not be printed, replied to, or forwarded using state equipment, unless allowed by your agency's policies and procedures.

Texas Public Employees Association Urges Freeze on Outsourcing: Health and Human Service Contracts Lack Safeguards

Citing the state’s recently publicized problems with private vendors, the Texas Public Employees Association (TPEA) today called on state officials to immediately freeze the outsourcing of all health and human service contracts.

“Given the current environment and public concerns over private vendor contracts under the purview of HHSC (Texas Health and Human Services Commission), TPEA believes it would be prudent to freeze any efforts to outsource additional services or functions under HHSC until the process and methodology for outsourcing is reformed to protect both the beneficiaries of state services and the state’s taxpayers,” TPEA Executive Director Gary W. Anderson said in a letter requesting the freeze.

In the letter to HHSC Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins, and members of the Health and Human Services Transition Legislative Oversight Committee, Anderson recommended a minimum of five safeguards should be implemented before any additional state services are outsourced.

“There must be a moratorium on the outsourcing and contracting of major public services until a legislative review fully assesses the implications of these contracts on taxpayers and the people who depend on these services, and until a methodology is established to balance program quality with maximum value for taxpayers,” Anderson said.

“Unless the proposals, bids and contracts the state is issuing are more fully scrutinized, problems will not only persist, they will grow in magnitude. TPEA believes in the efficient delivery of state services, but evidence shows the opposite is occurring with these health and human service contracts. We can fix the problems, but to do so we must first halt the current outsourcing process until reforms are in place,” Anderson said.

Click Here to see the full letter TPEA sent to HHSC.

Brown-Heatley Building TPEA Outreach
The Texas Public Employees Association will sponsor a membership outreach this Thursday, July 27, 2004, between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Austin in the Brown-Heatley Building on North Lamar. All employees are invited to stop by, have a cookie and some punch on us, and learn about the legislative agenda the association has established for the upcoming session. TPEA is a 14,000-member professional trade association and is the oldest and largest non-union legislative advocacy group representing current and retired state employees.

A Message from ERS: Don’t pass up on TexFlex
Summer Enrollment for your state employee and retiree insurance benefits is July 26 through August 20. Don’t forget to review your benefit choices and enroll in a TexFlex health or dependent care account. You can save more of your hard-earned money by using a TexFlex account to pay for medical and day care costs. This year retirees can go on-line and review annuity check information and make changes in withholding and payment information. All employees and retirees are encouraged to check to see whom they have named as beneficiaries for their benefits and make sure that ERS has the beneficiary’s social security numbers. You can do that on-line too. Go to the ERS home page for general benefit information at www.ers.state.tx.us, or click here on summer enrollment for specific enrollment information. Also check the list of fairs and plan to attend one in your area.

Summer Enrollment for State Employees-July 26 to August 20
USE Tex Flex to lower the cost of predictable out-of-pocket health care costs: State employee out-of-pocket health care costs were increased substantially in 2003, but you can reduce these costs by signing up for the flexible spending account, Tex-Flex, during summer enrollment.

Tex-Flex allows you to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for most health care costs. But, funds set aside in a Tex-Flex account must be used during that program year or they are lost. If you have predictable health care expenses you can save 10 to 25 percent, depending on your tax bracket, on these costs.

You must affirmatively act during this 2004 Summer Enrollment period, from July 26 to August 20, in order to begin having Tex-Flex deductions made, or to change your deductions, beginning this September 1. Please consult with your agency benefit coordinator or ERS representatives about the value of this option.

Help control health care costs and make healthy choices: 92 percent of state employees participate in HealthSelect. This is a self-funded health plan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas acts as a third-party administrator, not as an insuror. Steeply rising health care costs are the biggest challenge facing state employees. Rising health care costs create pressure to cut our health care benefits and they consume funds needed for state employee pay raises. You can help! By being a better health care consumer and trying to lower health care costs, we all potentially benefit through lower premiums and lower out-of-pocket expenses. Also, roughly 80 percent of total medical costs are attributable to 20 percent of the plan participants, generally people with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic problems. But, many of these chronic health conditions are preventable through exercise, diet and preventive medical treatment. Make sure you understand the health risks you may face and take steps now to assure you’ll be able to live a long and healthy life.

Sign Up with An Email Address Outside of the Office
TPEA has been building a new list of email addresses – ones that don’t go to State computers or workplaces and instead to home and web-based email accounts. Because you are receiving this email, we invite you to join the new list. Signing up will ensure that TPEA can keep you up-to-date on all issues concerning Texas State Employees. Click here to add your email address.

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If you do not wish to remain on this list, you can unsubscribe by
following the instructions at the end of this email.