In a few weeks, open enrollment will begin. I want to take this opportunity to provide some information on one of our often overlooked health care plans — the Savers Choice High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), the only plan with a health savings account (HSA). This plan has been offered since 2018, and currently, approximately 750 of our unit members are taking advantage of this plan.
Some of you may be like me. I chose the Cigna HMO plan when I began my career with the City and never explored any other options. It wasn’t until the City parted ways with Cigna that I was forced to do my research and consider my options. When I began looking at the plans offered by the City, my head began to spin. There were so many nuances that I wanted to just stop reading the benefits guide and stick with the new HMO, which would be my default if nothing else was selected
HSA is an account that is funded with pre-tax money that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses.
Still, I was intrigued by the HSA. I had only heard of it in passing and had no clue what it was all about. I found that the HSA is an account that is funded with pre-tax money that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses. I also heard that the City would make a deposit into that account every year just for simply being enrolled in the Savers Choice HDHP. Free money always seems like a win to me; however, I was still suspicious. Continuing my research, I found that the monthly premium for the HDHP was less than the other two plans. It is still a Blue Cross plan, which is the same provider and network as the PPO plan that everyone seemed very happy with. Now, remember, I have had an HMO from the beginning. The thought of yearly “deductibles” concerned me. For single coverage, it is $1,500, and for a family, it is $3,000. Here is the best part. Every January, the City will contribute to your HSA. Up until now, it has been exactly half of the yearly deductible. This coming January, that contribution has increased from $750 to $1,125 for single coverage and from $1,500 to $2,250 for family, which is 75% of your yearly deductible. So, your out-of-pocket dollars are reduced to $350 for single coverage and $750 for family. In addition, don’t forget the monthly premiums are the lowest out of all the plans, so there is a savings there as well. In addition, you can experience additional savings by completing the health risk assessment and receiving the wellness incentives.
The chart depicts what your total would be if you were a regular to high utilizer of health benefits and met your annual deductible. Someone who uses health insurance for just the yearly physical or well check and nothing else would experience reduced out-of-pocket costs.
Here is the other perk. That HSA account is yours forever. This means that it rolls over year after year, unlike Flexrap, which is a use it or lose it. You can also defer some of your paycheck on a pre-tax basis into the account. IRS annual contribution limits are set for calendar year 2021 at $3,600 for single coverage and $7,200 for family coverage. The HSA funds can be used for a myriad of things, from medical, prescription drug, dental, vision and over-the-counter health expenses. There is an expansive list of approved expenses available online from Health Equity (our HSA administer) and #9695 IRS Publication 969. You could also choose to pay for all the expenses and co-pays out of pocket, which would allow this account to grow and be used when you retire to offset monthly health care premiums with pre-tax dollars. You could also reimburse yourself for IRS-qualified medical expenses with HSA funds at any time if the expenses were incurred after your HSA was established. There is no reimbursement deadline, but keep in mind, this requires a level of discipline to keep meticulous track of your receipts.
Now, I know many of you are wondering what the “downside” of the plan is. Before you meet your deductible, you will pay 100% of the medical and prescription costs. These are not retail costs, but the reduced agreed upon rates that were negotiated by Blue Cross. In addition, even after your reach the $1,500 or $3,000 deductible, the prescriptions continue to be a reduced retail rate until you reach the maximum annual out-of-pocket costs of $3,000 for a single plan or $6,000 for a family plan. You cannot be enrolled in other medical coverage or Medicare. You cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return. You cannot use HSA funds to pay for health care expenses incurred by a domestic partner.
Consider, however, after you reach your deductible, all doctor visits and procedures are covered at 100% for the remainder of the calendar year. All the same doctors and hospitals available to the PPO plan are available to the Savers Choice Plan. However, it is important to note that the Savers Choice HDHP does not have out-of-network coverage. Currently, the PPO is the only plan that provides out-of-network coverage; however, most providers in the Phoenix area are in-network, so very few utilize out-of-network benefits.
The bottom line is this — if you are a low utilizer of health insurance, other than the yearly well check, this is a great opportunity to build the HSA by deferring some of your earnings and lowering your tax liability. The unused funds continue to grow and earn interest over time, and once your account reaches $2,000, you have investment options. The interest earned on your HSA balance is untaxed. If you are a high utilizer of health insurance, this is also a great plan to consider. Remember, after the deductible is met, everything else, except prescriptions (unless you meet max out-of-pocket), are covered at 100%. It certainly deserves your consideration.
If you have questions about this or any other City-sponsored benefit plans, you can send an email to benefits.questions@phoenix.gov, or you can call the Benefits Office at (602) 262-4777 and ask to speak to a benefits analyst. You can review the current benefits guide online at phxbenefits.com.
I can be reached here at the PLEA office or via email at dkriplean@azplea.com.
As a police association, we are charged with representing our membership. Everyone knows that we will accompany you to PSB for a misconduct investigation, show up at critical incidents to assist the officers, and negotiate with the City regarding pay and benefits. What a lot of members don’t realize is that representation extends into the political arena.
To represent our membership politically, we must have a fund set aside — called a Political Action Committee (PAC) fund. The money that a member pays in monthly dues cannot be used for the PAC fund. Conversely, monies designated for PAC cannot be used for any other purpose. The money in the PAC fund comes from individual officers having additional dollars deducted from their paychecks, knowing full well where it is going to be spent.
Public safety should be a top priority for our legislators. We need to find like-minded individuals and help them to be successful.
Now, some people believe police associations have no business in the political arena. I respectfully disagree. Police associations, ours included, need to align with candidates who are friendly to law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels. Doing so increases our chances of getting legislation passed that benefits the entire law enforcement community. For example, at the state level, it took a lot of “politicking” to get the peace officers bill of rights enacted. If you have never reviewed your rights prescribed by state law, peruse A.R.S. § 38-1101 through 38-1115. This was not achieved because people wanted you to have more rights. It was a challenge on many levels, and ultimately, law-enforcement-friendly politicians saw the benefits for us and we were able to succeed in passing this important legislation.
Being politically active at the local level is, perhaps, even more important for our association. Look at the current City Council makeup. Some City Council members love the police, so long as it comes at half the pay rate and little to no pension. If that were the case, can you imagine the quality of police officers we would have? Additionally, some City Council members would rather defund the police department in a way that would prevent hiring enough officers to ensure #9931 public safety and trust within the community and provide a level of service to our citizens that is second to none. Currently, the majority of the council does not support you as a police officer or recognize the good work you all do on a daily basis. They paint us all with the same broad brush that they demand us not to use when interacting with the community. It is a sad time we find ourselves in. Politicians with that mindset are better suited for something other than public service and, as an association, we make a point not to support those candidates.
I am not proclaiming that the association should be running the City Council or State Legislature, or that only candidates who offer us unwavering support should be elected. What I am saying is that public safety should be a top priority for our legislators and city government. We, as an association, need to find those like-minded individuals, assist them in their political endeavors and help them to be successful. Ultimately, this will be beneficial to us. Through the Arizona Police Association, we work with a lobbyist group that is helping us advance pro-police bills at the state level. In addition, we often heed their advice on candidates they have identified (state and local) who are pro-law-enforcement and help support their campaigns. With additional resources, we can be more of a partner to these individuals.
Being politically involved is more important than ever considering the climate surrounding law enforcement. I encourage all members to earmark at least $10 per month toward PAC. On a side note, retirees can also contribute to PAC if they so desire. This will assist the effort to get the right people in the right seats to help the law enforcement cause. Contact the PLEA office at (602) 246-7869 to find out how to start your PAC contribution.
As always, if you have any questions, call me here at the PLEA office or email me at dkriplean@azplea.com.
The City of Phoenix and its management are required to provide certain core services to its citizens. Public safety, waste management, adequate streets and water services are some examples. These core services are why we pay taxes. Dictionary.com defines “core” in many ways, and one is “the central, innermost or most essential part of anything.” Based on this definition, the core services of the City are essential and need to be provided adequately regardless of cost.
For the past 12 years since the Great Recession, City leadership has treated pub- lic safety more like a peripheral entity rather than a core service. If the Police Department needs to replace worn, inefficient equipment, build new facilities or refurbish old ones or add manpower to provide a high level of service to our citizens, we typically are met with negative responses, including “we don’t have funding for that” or “to accomplish that, we would have to impose or raise taxes.” This is backward thinking. If you accept the premise that public safety is a core service, then the Police Department needs to be funded in such a way that it pro- vides our citizens the best customer service without making us out to be the bad guys, which has been the case every year during budget reviews. The public should consider it unacceptable to wait hours for an officer to respond to a traffic collision or to take a lower-priority report. Citizens have a right to have this core service be properly staffed and funded to provide quality service in a timely manner. As we have seen every year, because of the diminished manpower issue that we seem unable to overcome, the City continues to fall woefully short of where the level of service should be for a city of our population and geographical footprint.
If public safety truly is a core service, there should be no need to create a funding source to staff and supply equipment.
One only needs to look at the current situation in which we find ourselves with the COVID-19 pandemic. While police officers have been identified as “essential personnel” by not only the City but the federal government, our police officers are, for obvious reasons, not afforded the opportunity to telework like other City employees. In fact, as a general rule, the City chose to exclude us from a portion of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201), despite other cities, like Glendale, including its first responders. As much as City leaders would like to, it is difficult to define what we do as police officers as anything but a core service.
Why do we continually struggle year after year to keep public safety funded? One glaring example of the City’s misplaced priorities is and has been the light rail system. The vast majority of Phoenicians never wanted the light rail; it was initially forced on them. Last year, there was pushback from a group of business owners who will be affected by the southern expansion of the right of way along Central Avenue. Proposition 106, an attempt to end all future light rail expansion, made it on the ballot but was defeated by voters. More people than not ride the rail for free due to there being no solid system in place to ensure those who ride, pay. 2017 estimates we had received from the City indicated the cost to construct 1 mile of light rail was $150 million, and at the time it cost an estimated $3 million per mile per year to maintain. Maybe this is why Glendale made it known in no uncertain terms that it did not want the Phoenix light rail running through its city. Unlike Phoenix, Glendale seems to be smart enough to understand that the cost to maintain each mile would far outweigh any financial gain.
If public safety truly is a core service, there should be no need to create a funding source to staff and supply equipment. Save those “funding sources” for extra items in the community. It’s not that libraries, pools and retirement centers aren’t important, but if they are important to the community, then ask them to approve a funding source above and beyond what is earmarked in the general fund to provide for them.
The City has proven time and again it is a master at pitting citizens against cops and firefighters by forcing citizens every contract cycle to choose between public safety and amenities important to them. This was clearly evident in our 2019–2021 contract negotiations where we were told that while employees needed to be made whole after nearly a decade of concessions and no raises, the City also felt that the citizens needed to be made whole as well. In other words, as we’ve heard time and time again, “Well, we can give you a raise but if we do, we’ll have to shut down or reduce access to swimming pools, parks, libraries and senior centers.” Tactics like this are unacceptable because they do nothing more than drive a wedge between public safety and the citizens we serve by making us out to be the bad guy. When you combine this with the anti-police sentiment we’ve seen pushed by a vocal minority percentage of the community and shown by our mayor and the majority of our City Council, it’s a tough obstacle to overcome.
City management should change how it sees and prioritizes #8486 core services. If it did, you would not hear another word about manpower shortages and see police equipment on the back of tow trucks with an officer out of service.
Fund the core first; the rest is extra.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, I can be reached at the PLEA Office or by email at dkriplean@azplea.com.
It is never a shock to any of us when we get hurt on the job. We know very well the hazards of our career choice. It is rare to hear of an officer who was able to navigate a 20-plus-year career without fi ling a workers’ compensation claim. For those of us who were not as fortunate, here are some things to consider.
No matter how minor the injury, report it as soon as reasonably possible. If the injury does not require medical treatment, simply complete a memo detailing what occurred and submit it to your supervisor. It will remain in your division/bureau/precinct file for one year. During that time, if the injury progresses so that medical treatment becomes necessary, an industrial packet will be completed.
Injuries that require medical treatment, obviously, will have an associated industrial packet filled out immediately.
My hope is that none of you have to navigate the workers’ compensation waters. e reality is that many, if not most, of you will.
I want to dispel an old wives’ tale that I believed to be true for most of my career — the idea that when you get injured you must go to Concentra one time. I, like most of you, heard this over and over from co-workers and supervisors. It wasn’t until I began working daily with injured colleagues that I found that it was not the case. The City does reserve the right to have you evaluated by a medical professional of its choosing if it believes your doctor’s assessment or treatment plan seems out of whack; otherwise, you are free to choose the doctor you trust most with your care and recovery. Remember, once you see a doctor for a second time, they become your doctor of record. If you decide later that you want a different health provider, you must first seek approval from CCMSI — the third-party administrator of the City’s workers’ compensation program — before seeing them.
Another thing to be keenly aware of is the timeline set forth in Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) for reporting an injury. ARS §23-1061 states that you have one year to file a claim for an injury. “The time for filing a compensation claim begins to run when the injury becomes manifest or when the claimant knows or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should know that the claimant has sustained a compensable injury.”
In other words, if symptoms or diagnosis of an injury do not manifest or occur for many years, it would still be able to be claimed. The date of diagnosis or onset of symptoms becomes the date of the injury. This is common with PTSD injuries.
Something to be very cognizant of is your work status document. Your doctor will be required to complete this document for the City. If your doctor wants you to recuperate at home, that needs to be reflected with the words “no duty” on it. Anything other than “no duty” is confirming your ability to work a modified assignment, aka transitional duty. If your doctor prescribes narcotic painkillers, do not assume that you will be able to stay home due to the “do not drive” advisement on the prescription bottle. As ludicrous as it sounds, the City may require you to report to work, even under the influence of a prescription narcotic. The City, time and time again, has told injured employees to get a ride from a family, friend, Uber or even a city bus to get to work. Remember, “no duty” is a key phrase.
Another important aspect of an industrial injury is that each covered #9379 injury has 2,080 hours (the equivalent of one year) attached to it. What this means is that if you are unable to work because of the injury, workers’ compensation pays a portion of your salary and the City will supplement the remaining portion for the duration of the injury, or up to 2,080 hours. The 2,080 hours also covers follow-up appointments and any physical therapy that is prescribed. If you exhaust that bank and continue to need time off for appointments, you will have to use BI, BV or BC time. If you can work light duty, I would encourage you to take advantage of it, even if it is in callback, to preserve that bank of hours. You may need to tap into it later if the claim needs to be reopened.
If you receive a bill for services rendered during this process, whether it is a doctor’s bill, ambulance bill or emergency room bill, it is of the utmost importance that you call your adjustor, City Safety staff or me so we can ensure that the “bill to” gets changed from your name to the City of Phoenix. We have had several instances where this has not occurred, and officers have thrown away the bill with the assumption, “It’s workers’ comp, I don’t need to worry about this.” In such cases, the bills have ended up in collections and, subsequently, on individual credit reports. Understandably, this is very frustrating for the officer. The City typically receives a discount on the bill if it is paid within 15 days, so the sooner they know about it, the better it is.
My hope is that none of you have to navigate the workers’ compensation waters. The reality is that many, if not most, of you will. Issues will arise, but know that PLEA will help you any way we can.
This article is only intended to cover the highlights of the workers’ compensation process. Operations Orders 3.7.3 explains the process at length. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact Tracy Hamilton in the city safety department at (602) 534-9530 or by email at tracy.hamilton@phoenix.gov. You may also contact me for assistance. I am always available at the PLEA office or by email at dkriplean@azplea.com.