ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 2, 2007  

ELCA Board of Pensions Proposes Wellness Plan in 2008
07-029-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions approved a proposal to
move the church's health plan toward a wellness plan.  The
trustees met here Feb. 23-25 and took several actions, including
proposed plan amendments for 2008 that will put greater emphasis
on preventing illness and avoiding health risks.
     Proposed changes in the health plan include only one
preferred provider organization (PPO) benefits administrator --
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.  The plan would retain
Aetna Global Benefits for staff of ELCA Global Mission deployed
outside the United States but would discontinue using other Aetna
benefits programs.
     "We are moving in our plan to a churchwide single vendor for
the medical provider," said John G. Kapanke, president, ELCA
Board of Pensions.  The Board chose Blue Cross Blue Shield for
its "stronger discounts and greater coverage for all of our
members," he said.  "Looking at the match across all of the
states and the synods, we found that Blue Cross Blue Shield would
be the strongest vendor."
     The ELCA Board of Pensions is based in Minneapolis.  It
provides retirement, health and related benefits and services to
50,000 pastors and lay employees and their families.  It serves
nearly 11,000 congregations and other sponsoring ELCA
organizations.
     Mary S. Ranum, Circle Pines, Minn., trustee chair, said the
main purposes for the health plan changes are "to emphasize the
importance of our health and wellness initiative, and to design
our health program to encourage and support the healthy behaviors
of our members."
     "I'm very excited about the changes in our medical plan,"
Kapanke said.  "The move from a disease model to a wellness model
is a major step for this church in our emphasis on overall health
and wellness," he said.
     "I continue to believe the emphasis on health and wellness
for our leadership is one of the most critical strategic issues
for this church.  If we are successful in training and equipping
our leaders and our future leaders to be healthy leaders,"
Kapanke said, "this church will be stronger in the future."
     Among the health plan changes being proposed:
+ The plan will pay 100 percent for in-network preventive
services, instead of 100 percent of costs up to $550 and 90
percent of costs more than $550.
+ Members and spouses will each have an opportunity to earn a
$300 wellness reward by participating in health-improvement
activities.
+ The individual annual deductible will increase from $350 to
$600.  The family deductible will also increase accordingly.
     The health-improvement activities begin with plan members
and spouses taking a confidential health risk assessment the
Board has offered through the Mayo Clinic, Kapanke said.  Other
rewards are earned by following through on personalized
recommendations on how to avoid health risks, he said.
     If at least 75 percent of plan members in any of the ELCA's
65 synods participate in the health risk assessment, the
organizations sponsoring the members in that synod may receive a
2 percent discount in the cost of health care coverage in 2008,
Kapanke said.  Sponsoring organizations are congregations or
employers that pay a salary percentage toward the member's plan.
     "As a self-employed individual without these benefits, I am
almost envious of the opportunity that this plan offers," T. Van
Matthews, Simpsonville, S.C., told the trustees' products and
services committee, which he chairs.  "In my world, there seems
to be only one incentive that the insurer considers and that is
to simply raise rates," he said.
     "No one has ever called me with a concern about my health
risk assessment.  It is so good for our members to know that
their employer cares and has a real reason to be interested in
their health for all the right reasons," Matthews said.
     "We have worked over the past number of years to move to a
division of costs of 80 percent that the sponsoring organizations
pay and 20 percent that our members pay through their co-pays and
the other elements of the plan," said Ranum.  "That is certainly
appropriate and consistent with what is happening in the broader
health insurance market," she said.
     The ELCA Church Council must approve health plan changes the
trustees proposed.  The council meets here April 14-16.  It acts
as the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative
authority of the church between biennial churchwide assemblies.
     The ELCA Conference of Bishops will review the proposal when
it meets March 1-6 in Galveston, Texas.  The conference is an
advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod
bishops, presiding bishop and secretary.

Kapanke reelected, 2006 investments impressive, kudos for audits
     In other action the trustees unanimously elected Kapanke to
another four-year term as president.  His new term will end Sept.
30, 2011.
     "When I announced John's reelection I said it was with great
pleasure.  That is indeed true," Ranum said.  "John is a highly
skilled, committed leader, and we have every confidence in his
abilities to lead the Board of Pensions.  He understands the
relationship of the Board of Pensions to the ELCA," she said.
     "It's an honor to serve this church and the Board and a
wonderful board of trustees," Kapanke said.
     Kapanke is a 1969 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La
Crosse, and he holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from
Newberry College, Newberry, S.C.  Newberry is one of 28 colleges
and universities of the ELCA.
     He worked as a financial analyst for Aid Association for
Lutherans, Appleton, Wis.  In 1973 he joined the Board of
Pensions of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA),
Minneapolis, and served as senior vice president for investments.
     When the LCA merged with the American Lutheran Church and
the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1987, Kapanke
became president of the new ELCA Board of Pensions.  He's a
member of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, an ELCA
congregation.
     Trustees also reviewed the 2006 performance returns for
funds in the ELCA Retirement Plan, in which returns were nearly
double long-term expectations for several asset classes.  "We
reviewed the 2006 investment results, and they were very strong,"
Ranum said.  "We have just about the best investment staff and
investment management process that exists," she said.
     The ELCA Board of Pensions trustees are fiduciaries in the
management of $7.2 billion in assets.  Of that behind-the-scenes
work, Ranum added that one of the unsung heroes is the trustees'
audit committee.  Although the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
does not apply to the Board, she said the audit committee has
kept it in compliance with the accounting and reporting standards
required of public companies.
     "That provides security for our members, to know that we are
being very careful about our fiduciary responsibilities to them,"
Ranum said.
-- -- --
     The home page of the ELCA Board of Pensions is at
http://www.ELCAbop.org/ on the Web.
     Audio of comments by John G. Kapanke, president, ELCA Board
of Pensions, is at http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/070302.mp3 on
the ELCA Web site.

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