As more Americans enter their senior years, the prospects that our families will encounter the burdens and financial risks of long term care (LTC) become more likely. No matter where you are in your life, you may face the need to provide a grandparent, parent or other relative with additional assistance with their everyday activities. By the time we reach age 65, we all have about a 50-50 chance that we will need some form of LTC during our lifetime.

LTC differs from medical care because it involves basic, personal assistance with activities of daily living as opposed to treatment for health conditions. It is also different in that medical insurance, including Medicare, does not cover those personal care needs over a long period of time. Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California) does pay for substantial LTC expenses, but to qualify, your income must be below a certain level and you must meet minimum state eligibility requirements.

About 80 percent of custodial care is given at home by an unpaid caregiver, usually a family member, partner, friend or neighbor. An AARP survey showed that more than 43 million people in the U.S. had been an unpaid caregiver in the prior year. But at some point, many people will require help beyond the capacity of unpaid caregivers.

Seven minor adjustments to Medicare and Social Security regulations will combine to severely erode the affordability of health care for your current and future retirees. A typical retiree could experience lifetime benefit losses from $37,000 to $57,000 or more due to these “insignificant” changes. Unfortunately, these changes will not result in long-term reform to preserve the value and affordability of Medicare.

Many education agencies generously provide health insurance benefits for retirees. If a conventional retiree medical plan is not in your budget, a defined contribution Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) could be an affordable option.

Unlike a defined benefit plan and their rising costs, a defined contribution plan limits your district’s contribution toward that benefit. The contribution is not tied to rising insurance costs, makes cash flows more predictable, and reduces or eliminates devastating OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) liabilities. The HRA provides a valuable retiree health benefit to employees. The employer regularly deposits funds into individual accounts on behalf of employees while employed at your school. HRA funds and earnings are free from federal income and FICA taxes.

Your employees’ households include every variety of size and make up. From singles to single parents; families that are “nuclear” to “extended”; and even homes where furry companions are beloved members of the family – with this amazing diversity comes a wide range of insurance and financial security needs. Each family needs the ability to customize insurance to their own requirements and budget. Voluntary benefits offer your employees the opportunity to create a portfolio to meet their specific requirements.

What concerns could affect their situation?

California’s jigsaw jumble of laws and regulations governing employment leave is, to say the least, complicated. Covering a wide range of circumstances – from illness to parental bonding, from jury duty to voting in elections – the Golden State has upwards of 17 kinds of employee leave. Some of it is paid leave, while other leaves involve medical requirements and guarantee job reinstatement for a certain period. Some leaves run concurrently, and others run consecutively. Even the city you operate in can change the way leave is handled. It’s no wonder school districts have questions – lots of questions.

Recent updates to California leave laws have brought the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in closer harmony. But it’s important that school districts pay close attention to the provisions affecting them, which may depend on how many employees they have and their own leave policies and procedures.

One area of confusion is the difference between laws protecting employment rights during leave and those laws requiring wage payment during certain leaves. Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides paid benefits to an employee when taking time off work to care for a seriously ill family member or bond with a new child. But PFL doesn’t provide job protection, while FMLA and CFRA both provide reinstatement rights upon return from a qualifying leave.

Many common medical conditions are successfully – and affordably – treated with generic prescriptions. While generics are required by law to provide the same active ingredient, quality, and therapeutic value as brand name pharmaceuticals, the big difference is price.

Generics provide high value to patients and plan sponsors for the most part. On average, consumers pay just $6.06 for a generic prescription at the pharmacy. The average brand copayment is more than $40, nearly 7 times the cost out of pocket. About 90% of all prescriptions filled are generics, but only account for 23% of all drug costs. This is great news for schools trying to keep their health benefit expenses under control.

Today we’re seeing large increases in the cost of some generic drugs that were once priced reasonably. While we’ve seen cases of unscrupulous drug companies raising prices by hundreds of dollars because they have no competition, factors such as raw material shortages, industry consolidation and low demand for products that treat rare conditions are driving this trend.

We’d like to share a few insights from our most recent Keenan’s Employee Benefits Survey with you. We believe it’s the most comprehensive survey of California public schools, with responses from 110 California school districts. It provides benchmarks and analysis to assist in planning employee benefit strategies for 2019 and beyond.

The 2018 survey includes an overview of existing benefits programs, costs and policies. Surveyed districts offered their views on strategic benefit decisions in the next several years. Among their most important concerns are:

Proposition 64, the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, has legalized personal, recreational use of marijuana. Many of the related regulations go into effect January 1, 2018. We want you to know that Proposition 64 carved out several areas of state law which remain unchanged in California that impact your employment policies and workplace safety:

During the past 20 years, our world has become increasingly connected and we all depend on many pieces of technology to conduct day-to-day activities. A large segment of public sector business is now transacted using online access through a variety of devices and interfaces. This has improved efficiency, saved time and money for agencies and their constituents, and greatly facilitated communication and distribution of vital and timely information. Just as important as everyone being able to gain physical access to public facilities, people with disabilities or other limitations must be able to easily access online resources provided by public agencies. 

The federal Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998, adding Section 508 that incorporates sixteen rules for Web-based intranet and internet information and applications. On January 18, 2017, a final rule was issued to update accessibility requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508. 

In 2003, the State of California enacted Government Code Section 11135, requiring all of its agencies and departments to comply with federal Section 508. The California Department of Education (CDE) has adopted Accessibility Standards for designing and developing web sites to keep their agency in compliance. CDE’s standards can serve as best practices for local educational agencies to use for their own online assets. 

Complying with Section 508 and state law is important for ensuring everyone in our communities can use the Internet resources for interacting and transacting with their local governments. From enrollments, information requests, employment opportunities, providing feedback, to critical public safety notifications, these capabilities have become indispensable. From a risk management standpoint, districts that have non-compliant web sites could potentially face civil rights actions and costly lawsuits from individuals unable to access district resources online

One of the most fundamental tasks managers and supervisors perform is establishing employee performance expectations. And, for the employee, success on the job requires that they meet those expectations.

Social media is one of today’s most popular activities, whether sharing photos and fun times with family and friends, or discussing opinions on current issues. There’s no doubt social media receives
the big “thumbs up” from a broad spectrum of Internet users.