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Minutes of the Health & Human Service Committee
October 7, 2013
6:30 p.m.

PRINTABLE DOCUMENT (.pdf)

 

Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Health and Human Services
Committee at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes
when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.

 

 

The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, October 7, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. in the Administration Building's Conference Room East. Vice Chairman Jeff Whelan called the meeting to order. Members present were Mr. Emerson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Metzger and Mr. Tyson, Chairman DeFauw was absent. Also present was Gary Hanson, Ms. Donna Moulton, Anthony Cvek, Jane Lux and Cindy Graves.

 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
It was moved by Mr. Johnson, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from September 9, 2013.

 

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
It was moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Mr. Johnson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

 

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT PRESENTATION -- JANE LUX AND CINDY GRAVES
Jane Lux, Administrator of the DeKalb County Health Department, along with Cindy Graves, Director of Community Health and Prevention Division, gave a presentation to the committee regarding the Affordable Care Act.


Ms. Graves started the power point presentation giving an overview of Healthcare Reform Medicaid Expansion and Marketplace. Ms. Graves started with explaining that citizen's current situation is of confusion and skepticism then went on sharing the different paths on how to get health coverage, eligibility, the marketplace, financial assistance that is available and how premiums are determined.


Ms. Lux spoke about the Health Departments involvement with this program. She explained how that there is an estimated 8500 DeKalb County residents that are currently uninsured and through their In-Person Counselor Grant they are in charge of outreach and education and providing assistance to individuals with enrollment. There's also mobile equipment which will help in assisting individuals out in the community. Ms. Lux also shared that through a federal grant they have hired three part-time In-Person Counselors and one part-time Support Staff to go out and help clients, businesses and shelters.


Ms. Lux also provided information about the department's key responsibilities, post enrollment responsibilities and partnerships. She encouraged visiting the Health Department's Enrollment website which is updated with information along with other online resources to visit. Ms. Graves indicated that the Health Department will start setting up appointments by October 15th along with going out to places like libraries and Hope Haven to assist with enrollment.


Mr. Whelan asked if small businesses with 10-15 employees would get penalized for not providing health care. Ms. Graves indicated that they would not that is only with business that have over 50 employees but they are still encouraging small businesses to look into the small business coverage.


Mr. Metzger asked if they had a target timeline on when they would like to get residents educated and enrolled. Ms. Lux shared that open enrollment was until March 31, 2014 so that is when they would like to have enrollments done by.


Mr. Hanson shared that he thought that 8500 uninsured residents seem to be a high number to him and wondered how DeKalb County compared to surrounding Counties and wondered if that number was high due to college students. Ms. Lux answered that always in a college community there is a higher percentage of uninsured residents.


After further discussion the committee thanked Ms. Lux and Ms. Graves for their presentation and attached to these minutes is the full power point presentation print out.

 

BUGET REVIEW OF DEPARTMENTS REPORTING TO HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE


The committee had no appeals to address or any other topics for discussion under the FY2014 Budget.

 

ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

 


Respectfully submitted,

 


_______________________________
Jeff Whelan, Vice Chairman

 

 


_______________________________
Tasha Stogsdill, Recording Secretary