ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 25, 2004

2005 ELCA Health Care Rates To Increase 5 Percent
04-154-SS*

     MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- After double-digit increases each year since
1999 for health plan contribution rates, trustees of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions approved an overall
rate increase of approximately 5 percent for 2005.
     At its Aug. 4-6 meeting here, the board of trustees set 2005 rates
for six rate classes. The six-class rate structure is based on
geographical differences in healthcare costs and salaries.
     Trustees approved health care contribution increases of 2 percent for
retired members under age 60 and 9.9 percent for retired members ages 60
to 64. They also voted no increases for retired members with Medicare
Supplement coverage and for members on the disability and survivor benefit
plans.
     Following lengthy discussion, the trustees approved revisions to the
mission statement that will allow the possibility for the ELCA Board of
Pensions to serve other faith-based organizations. The mission statement
now reads: "We provide retirement, health and related benefits and
services to enhance the well-being of those who serve the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and other faith-based organizations."
     "We're not called in the same way to serve other organizations as we
are to the ELCA," said trustee Mary S. Ranum, Circle Pines, Minn.
     She was assured by John G. Kapanke, Board of Pensions president, that
"the primary emphasis" is to serve the ELCA. "Extending services to other
organizations will help us serve our own members even better through
economies of scale," he said.
     "Will [other organizations] have no role in the governance?" asked
trustee Charlotte E. Carlson, Northfield, Minn.
     "Yes, that's correct," responded board of trustees chair Bradley C.
Engel, Chicago, adding that product sales to other denominations by
Augsburg Fortress, Publishers, would be a parallel.
     The trustees also:
     + voted to reduce the board of trustees from 21 to 15 people, with a
plan to have 19 in 2005, 17 in 2007 and 15 from 2009 forward;
     + accepted a philosophy of benefits that says, among other things,
that though the plan is voluntary, all church workers should be sponsored;
the plan should provide adequate financial protection and include some
cost-sharing features; the health, retirement, disability and survivor
benefit plans should be bundled; employers should pay the entire monthly
cost; and the cost is a percentage of compensation;
     + approved a new vision statement: "Those we serve lead healthy lives
and achieve financial security." The new statement is "member-centered,"
Kapanke said.
     + received an update on the board's "Healthy Leaders Enhance Lives"
health and wellness initiative, noting registrations to
http://www.elcaforwellness.org have increased to 8,029 professional church
leaders and lay employees (and their families).
---
*Sonia C. Solomonson is managing editor for The Lutheran, the magazine of
the ELCA.

     The ELCA Board of Pensions is at http://www.elcabop.org on the Web;
refer to the site for information on 2005 class rates for synods.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news