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F- 2 5 198 JUS 6 BOOK 64 PAG—r803 everything except that first payment, $400 or so, does the person on the Gulf policy get that payment. Mr. Morisco explained that for active employees the group plan is primary coverage no matter what their age. That is federal law. For retired employees, that law does not apply, and Medicare is primary. Mr. Morisco advised that Gulf commonly uses an approach which they call a "carve out" - they calculate what the group benefits are and then subtract any benefit that Medicare pays; so, in some situations, the supplement from the group program could be very little. That, however, can be changed to a method called "coordination of benefits" in which v, Gulf would calculate their benefits, and so long as their total benefit is greater than the difference between the total bill and what Medicare paid, they would pay the difference. This presents an increased liability for the County; of course, but if it is desired that the program be administered that way, Gulf would be happy to do it. Vice Chairman Lyons noted that the policies he is familiar with pay that way. He did not know what the extra cost for this may be, but would recommend we handle it that way. OMB Director Baird realized there has been a little problem with the "carve out" for some employees and advised that staff is looking into an alternative plan for our retired employees and will be bringing that back to the Board. Mr. Baird noted that the State now offers a plan for employees retired under the Florida Retirement System, but he felt it is very costly - something over $200 a month. Commissioner Wodtke did not feel that is that expensive when you consider the age group. Commissioner Bowman pointed out that Gulf Life also has a $200 deductible that nobody has mentioned, and Mr. Morisco explained that when they implemented the utilization review program, the plan was modified to include a $200 hospital confinement deductible, which they will waive so long as the M