Sources of Revenue:

Special Fund

Legislation creates:

A New Program

Fiscal Note Summary

Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.

The purpose of this bill is to Include volunteer firefighters within the Public Employees Insurance Act and requiring the county commissions to pay either three-fourths or the full amount of premiums. Passage of this bill would not increase any cost directly to the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA). The cost of premiums will be borne by the volunteer firefighter and the county commission, who will be considered the employer, in which the volunteer fire department is located. At the present time the PEIA currently bills county commissions, municipalities and other political subdivisions 100% of the monthly premium. The individual county commissions, municipalities and other political subdivisions dictate what portion of premiums they will pay as the employer with the employee contributing the balance. At the current time there are approximately 11,000 volunteer firefighters in the state of WV. An assumption is being made that 1,000 volunteer firefighters are currently covered under PEIA or another plan by their spouse leaving 10,000 as a potential number that would be eligible to enroll in the program. It should be noted that there is a significant potential for adverse selection with passage of this legislation. Adverse selection dictates that only those individuals that need or require medical services will be the ones to take advantage of the program. The insurance program would experience higher claim utilization if this occurs that would result in higher medical claim costs that would drastically skew the claim experience for a relatively small insured pool. In this light the PEIA would recommend that eligibility be restricted to those volunteer firefighters who have served a certain period of time in the service of a volunteer fire department. A sufficient time would be at least one if not two years of service prior to enrollment. This would reduce the possible adverse selection that may occur by persons volunteering to receive insurance coverage and once their immediate medical needs are satisfied leaving the volunteer fire department or cancelling coverage altogether. The estimated potential cost to county commissions, of 10,000 enrollees, if volunteer firefighters were contributing the current premium cost share as similarly situated insured based on 70% single and 30% family with a 10% medical cost trend is as follow: FY-2012 $40,860,000.00 FY-2013 $44,946,000.00 FY-2014 $49,440,600.00 Total $135,246,600.00

Fiscal Note Detail

Effect of Proposal	Fiscal Year
Effect of Proposal	2011 Increase/Decrease (use"-")	2012 Increase/Decrease (use"-")	Fiscal Year (Upon Full Implementation)
1. Estmated Total Cost	0	0	0
Personal Services	0	0	0
Current Expenses	0	0	0
Repairs and Alterations	0	0	0
Assets	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0
2. Estimated Total Revenues	0	0	0

Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):

Memorandum

Person submitting Fiscal Note: Chip Myers
Email Address: clifford.m.myers@wv.gov