News from Texas Ag Co-op Trust

Dedicated Insurance Professionals you know and trust...like Family

Issue No. 33

April 16, 2013

Greetings!

National Stress Awareness Month has launched! These days, it seems a big stressor on the minds of many is healthcare and impending changes.

At Texas Agricultural Cooperative Trust, we are always looking for ways to reduce cost and improve benefits for our members. In today's uncertain financial environment,

combined with the ever increasing cost of health care and health insurance, it is more crucial than ever that we are committed to providing our members with the benefits and coverages they need and generate additional revenues to TACT to offset these cost increases.

Texas Ag Coop Trust aids in providing group benefits to members in the agricultural industry. Texas Ag Coop Trust provides quality life and health benefit plans and works to hold down future rate increases for participants. With TACT, you don't rent your insurance plan, you own it.

With TACT there is no need to stress. Regulation, coverage, concern? YOU are our business - we are here to address any and all concerns, we are here to alleviate the stress of healthcare and insurance. We are the answer to your needs.

TACT - Dedicated Insurance Professionals

you know and trust...like Family.

Facebook Feature

Don't Stress

What Health and Wellness Experts are Letting Go

of This Year

National Stress Awareness month launched on Capitol Hill, as healthcare, business and agency chiefs recognize National Workplace Wellness Week (April 7 - 13) with a number of panel discussions.

Traffic. Crow's feet. The weather. A bad hair day.

There's a seemingly interminable list of little stressors that are out of our control. One thing we can control? Our reaction to them.

The decision not to pace over the inevitable is one worth making. Less stress means more time to take pleasure in all that brings you joy. You'll be doing your health a favor, too, since stress can affect our health in ways that are just plain scary: Chronic stress has been associated with increased risk for cancer, heart disease and obesity.

In the spirit of choosing not to stress (and in honor of April being National Stress Awareness Month) we asked health and wellness experts to tell us one thing they've decided to stop stressing over this year. These are the folks who have made careers researching, dissecting and developing methods to manage stress in one way or another.

Click here to view a slide show.

For more on stress, click here.

What stressors have you let go of recently?

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Additional Reading...

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Healthcare

in the News

Exchanges, But Not

As Envisioned

Delay?

What delay?

Even though the Obama administration is delaying a key component of federally run small-business exchanges, some states building their own exchanges say they're on track to have the program running next year.

The feds last month said the 33 exchanges it will run next year won't allow employees whose companies use the exchanges to choose their own health plans until 2015. Instead, they'll have to accept whatever plan their employer selects for them.

The new Small Business Health Option Program exchanges, known as SHOP exchanges, are hoping to draw in firms by offering greater health plan choices for employers and their workers, and the so-called employee choice model was seen as a major incentive for businesses to seek coverage on the SHOP exchanges.

But more than half the country won't have that option right away.

The Obama administration said states running their own exchanges in 2014 can still offer employee choice though, and at least a few states aggressively implementing Obamacare - such as Minnesota and Oregon - say they're moving ahead with those plans right away. They say it's an essential draw to the SHOP exchange, though they acknowledge it won't be easy to pull off.

Employee choice generally works like this: Workers whose employers decide to purchase coverage through the SHOP exchange get a defined contribution from the firm, and they then put the money toward an exchange health plan of their choosing. Without employee choice, the employer chooses the health plan for its workers, much like how the employer-sponsored insurance system works now.

The Obama administration announced a month ago that it would delay the employee choice option in federal-run exchanges, but recent news reports about the decision have sent state-based exchanges into damage control.

April Todd-Malmlov, executive director of the Minnesota exchange, said her office was bombarded with questions after reports of the federal delay grew.

"Having employee choice and doing defined contribution has been something that Minnesota employers have wanted to do for a long time," she said.

Colorado is another state last week that reiterated plans to install employee choice right away, despite the federal delay.

"Colorado is on track to help small employers provide a range of health plan options to employees through our new online health insurance marketplace that will open in October,"Patty Fontneau, executive director of the Colorado exchange, said in a statement.

Health Insurance Marketplace and Texas

Texas has indicated that it will not create a state-based health insurance marketplace (formerly called the exchange). See the letter from Governor Perry dated November 2012.

What does this mean for you?

Summary of Benefits and Coverage - Uniform Glossary

The information below has been made available by healthcare.gov as a means of offering explanation to TACT members/participants.

NOTE from TACT: The standard SBC form that has been issued as part of the new Obamacare regulations enables you to compare health plans. As exchanges begin to build across the United States, YOU, as a TACT member/participant can expect to begin seeing this information in JUNE.

At TACT, we want you to understand and be able to evaluate your choice to trust TACT with your coverage. We also want you to be informed and have all information as it becomes available, as Obamacare begins to go into affect.

Basic Information: (courtesy healthcare.gov)

As of September 23, 2012 or soon after, health insurance issuers and group health plans are required to provide you with an easy-to-understand summary about a health plan's benefits and coverage. The new regulation is designed to help you better understand and evaluate your health insurance choices.

The new forms include:

A short, plain language Summary of Benefits and Coverage, or SBC
A uniform glossary of terms commonly used in health insurance coverage, such as "deductible" and "copayment"

All insurance companies and group health plans must use the same standard SBC form to help you compare health plans. The SBC form also includes details, called "coverage examples," which are comparison tools that allow you to see what the plan would generally cover in two common medical situations. You have the right to receive the SBC when shopping for or enrolling in coverage or if you request a copy from your issuer or group health plan. You may also request a copy of the glossary of terms from your health insurance company or group health plan.

What This Means For You:

It's not easy for consumers to know what they are buying when shopping for insurance. The new rules are a joint effort among the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury. The SBC is designed after the Nutrition Facts label required for packaged foods which helps you make healthy and informed decisions about your diet. The SBC's standardized and easy to understand information about health plan benefits and coverage allows you to more easily make "apples to apples" comparisons among your insurance options. The measure brings more openness to the insurance marketplace for the more than 180 million Americans with private health coverage.

Some Important Details

This provision applies to all health plans, whether you get coverage through your employer or purchase it yourself, beginning September 23, 2012.
All health plans must provide an SBC to shoppers and enrollees at important points in the enrollment process, such as upon application and at renewal.
The coverage examples give a general sense of how a plan would cover the normal delivery of a baby, and services to help a person control type 2 diabetes.
If you don't speak English, you may be entitled to receive the SBC and uniform glossary in your native language upon request.

From TACT:

Reiterating, it isn't easy for consumers to know exactly what they are buying when it comes to healthcare coverage. Openness is the goal of the measure. Education and information is the goal of TACT.

What can we do to help you? What questions do you have? As June nears, make a point to touch base with us. We are here to answer your questions. We are here to field your options.

Agriculture News

Outook Call for Texas Drought

to Continue into Summer

Thunderstorms soaked most of Texas merely days ago. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook summary of Texas weather is a grim reminder that Texas needs far more than a few strong storms.

Here are some of the more interesting findings from the study:

Map by NOAA

This map shows that temperature have been warmer than normal over the last two years in Texas.

Temperatures and precipitation have diverged from historical norms. The last two years in Texas were the warmest since 1985. And the entire state experienced lower than normal rainfall in that time period, according to the report.

One result of the oppressive weather is a shrinking water supply. Central Texas' two largest reservoirs, Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, are at 41 percent capacity, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority, LCRA, website. Those low levels aren't likely to improve much in the coming months, as the NOAA outlook anticipates warmer and drier weather through June.

David Barer is a reporting intern for StateImpact Texas.

Beef Prices to Climb

As Drought Continues

SAN ANGELO, Texas -Even with some welcome, if limited, rain, West Texas cattle raisers are reluctant to talk about restocking. The drought continues to hold cattle numbers down in the country.

The nation's cattle inventory of 89.3 million head remains at its lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was president, but the demand for beef continues to climb.

A story in the Des Moines Register recently quoted Ed Greiman, president of Iowa Cattlemen's Association, saying he expects beef prices could increase as much as 10 percent by summer.

Greiman said cattle producers are worried beef might become a luxury item.

"We can't let beef turn into lobster," he said.

In addition to drought, rising energy costs for processing, packaging and transportation have driven modest increases in retail food prices.

Retail beef prices have risen by about $1 per pound since 2007.

Prices for cattle have jumped by as much as 25 percent in the past two years as herd counts have dropped.

In the Midwest, higher corn prices and late winter storms have driven beef prices higher.

"Folks just don't think about grilling outside with snow on the ground," was one comment.

With fewer cattle coming to market in West Texas, several slaughter and meat-processing plants have closed.

The closure of Cargill's beef packing plant in Plainview in February will impact beef prices for the consumer, according to Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples.

San Angelo Packing Co. closed just days ago. Because of the drought, cattle runs were too light to fill the 350 to 400 head processed daily. Before the drought, the plant processed about 700 head per day.

The Plainview facility processed 4,500 head of cattle per day. Now, 2,000 workers are without a job in Plainview and 200 in San Angelo.

Click to read story in its entirety.

Healthful Hint

Switch Stress Into Energy

Stress is bad. Stress can make you crazy. We all deal with stress from time to time. It is part of what we are. We could go on and on with the warnings we've all heard about the effects of stress, along with the message that stress is one big energy suck until you learn to use it.

How does your stress affect your work? While stress can be a tremendous motivator, it is often counter-productive. Learn how you can plug in the right way to feel more productive, more accomplished, more relaxed and alive.

Energy Switch:
Change your thinking
Be aware of how quickly your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control and cause undue stress. Have you ever noticed how stressed you feel when you're caught up in your negative thinking? And, to top it off, the more overwhelmed you get in the details of whatever is stressing you out. One thought leads to another, and yet another, until at some point, you become extremely agitated.

For example, you might be driving in traffic to a networking event and remember a meeting that you need to schedule the following day. Rather than feeling relieved that you remembered this important meeting, your mind starts racing about everything else you have to do tomorrow as you are driving. You start mentally preparing the details of your meeting in your head and rehearsing a probably outcome, other to-do tasks start surfacing in your mind, getting yourself more worked up. Needless to say this mental rehearsal makes it impossible to feel peaceful with your mind in a frenzy.

You may be very busy, but remember that filling your head with thoughts of how overwhelmed you are only exacerbates the problem and makes you feel more stressed than you already do. The solution is to notice this train of thought before it has a chance to snowball and build momentum. Nip this mental rehearsal in the bud. You can then focus on how happy you are that you remembered the important meeting, not on how overwhelmed you are. So the next time you begin to obsess over your schedule consciously nip it in the bud.

Additional Energy Switches:

Change Scenery

Stop Worrying

Laugh a Little

Get Moving