Archived News Updates

 

December 15, 2011: Update on Health Provider Negotiations from Jason Heskett:

"Dear Members,

 

Below is a message from VITA, our healthcare broker, informing us of some current negotiations.

 

Walgreens and Anthem are still in negotiations at this point.

 

Sutter Health Systems is negotiating with the following insurance carriers:

·         Aetna

·         Anthem

·         Blue Shield

·         CIGNA

 

Sutter Health Systems is renegotiating all of the above carrier contracts to renew on January 1, 2012.  These negotiations affect all physicians and hospitals of the Sutter system including:

·         Palo Alto Medical Foundation (all bay area locations including Camino site)

·         Palo Alto Foundation (including Mills Peninsula & Santa Cruz sites)

·         Peninsula Medical Clinic

·         Sutter Gould Medical Foundation

·         Sutter Independent Physicians

·         Sutter Medical Group

·         Sutter West Medical Group

·         Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation

·         Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation (including the Diablo Division)

·         Sutter Regional Medical Foundation

 

Negotiations are going well and it appears that all of these carriers expect to have final contractual language in place by January 1st.  There is a remote chance that things may not go as planned, and if that happens, we will be back in touch with transitional care and alternate hospital instructions.

 

Sutter continues to negotiate with all of their carrier partners, and all parties involved believe that they will be able to maintain their business relationships.  The completion of a contract is important to all parties as there are so many client employers that would be adversely affected by any discontinuation of the contract.  We will keep you informed of any changes as we are notified.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. --Jason Heskett"

 

December 13, 2011: Message from Jason Heskett

"Dear Members,

 

1. With the uncertain economic conditions of the State of California, I have a favor to ask of you.  Please take the time over the break to send a letter to your representative lawmakers in the state legislature urging them to support education.  CTA has a website available with all the current issues our lawmakers are faced with concerning education and they make it real easy to identify your representative and compose a letter.  Please spend 10 minutes using already formatted letters created by the CTA or compose your own letter with your own personal thoughts on the issues, either way the lawmakers need to hear from teachers.

 

Website for sending letters: http://www.capwiz.com/nea/ca 

 

(The website will not be able to be viewed on the district server due to its political nature as requested by the CTA, so you may have to view this website at home or in your local Wi-Fi place of choice)

 

2. The ballot concerning the one-time money is now official and all current members that worked on April 1st 2011 will receive a check for about $930 before taxes on January 10th 2012.  The remainder of the one-time money will be used to offset FEA deficits for the 2011-12 school year.

 

3. I would like to thank the 350 members who completed the surveys last month in helping our negotiations team begin the process of negotiating our membership through these tough economical times.  The survey completion and ballot turnout numbers are the highest ever in recent times, it really gives the leadership a more complete picture in what the membership is thinking.

 

As you finish up your finals this week, I would like to wish all of you a holiday filled with precious memories with family and friends.

 

Thank you

Jason Heskett

Your FEA President."

 

November 22, 2011: Unofficial One-Time Money Ballot Results (click for details)*

1. If any of the 2010-11 one-time money is paid out to the FEA membership, it should be paid as:

   Block: 58%

   Percentage: 42%

 

2. Should any of the one-time money be used to offset FEA's expected end of year deficits, instead of being paid out now directly to members?

   Yes: 59%

   No: 41%

 

3. If any of the money is used to offset deficits, what portion should be used?

   Use 50% of money: 58%

   Use 100% of money: 42%

 

*Note: Results are unofficial until certified by Rep Council.

 

November 17, 2011: San Jose Mercury News on Mid-Year Cuts (a.k.a "Trigger Cuts"):

"The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office on Wednesday released its budget forecast for this year and beyond. The grim bottom line: Revenue for the current fiscal year is projected to fall $3.7 billion short. If the state finance department concurs in its report due next month -- a likely scenario -- the deficit will trigger at least $2 billion in midyear cuts, including more than $1.3 billion to [K-12] public education." -San Jose Mercury News Editorial (click here for full text)

 

November 17, 2011: How To Raise a Contract Issue

Please see the new Negotiations page for more information.

 

November 16, 2011: CTA Scholarship Information

"CTA offers several different educational scholarships to members and their dependents throughout the academic year." For more information, please see the CTA web site: http://www.cta.org/About-CTA/CTA-Foundation/Scholarships/index.aspx

 

November 15, 2011: Health and Welfare Survey Results available:

The results of the recent FEA Health and Welfare Survey are now available in Excel XLSX format. Please click here for results.

 

November 12, 2011: New Discussion Forum!

FEA is switching to Google Groups so we can have a much more modern, functional discussion forum. You should already have gotten instructions on how to register in your district e-mail; if not, contact Ben Eloy. (Note: You need to login to Google with your district e-mail address; if you need to reset your password, click here. Then, you can go directly to the discussion forum)

 

November 12, 2011: New FEA website:

Welcome to the new FEA website! Please feel free to browse the new site, and send any suggestions or comments to Ben Eloy. If necessary, you can also find the old website by clicking here.

 

November 9, 2011: FEA Salary Survey results available:

The results of the recent FEA Salary Survey are now available in Excel XLSX format. Please click here for results.

 

November 3, 2011: Anthem/Stanford Contract Dispute Resolved:

"Anthem Blue Cross and Stanford University Hospital have reached a multi-year agreement with an effective date of September 1, 2011.  This means that retro-actively to September 1, 2011 (date the contract terminated) Stanford University Hospital will be considered as an in-network provider.   Anthem Blue Cross will reprocess all claims from Stanford University Hospital and employees can expect to receive adjusted Explanation of Benefits in the coming weeks." --Jason Heskett

 

October 19, 2011: Anthem/Walgreens Contract Dispute:

"Express Scripts and Walgreens are currently in discussions to renew their contract, but the current contract is set to expire on December 31st.  Express Scripts and Walgreens may still agree on a contract prior to January 1st,  Walgreens may not be an Anthem in-network pharmacy effective January 1, 2012." --Jason Heskett (click here for more information from Anthem)