South Carolina Code 1-11-710. Board to make insurance available to active and retired employees; Insurance Reserve Fund to provide reinsurance; cost to be paid out of appropriated and other funds
(1) make available to active and retired employees of this State and its public school districts and their eligible dependents group health, dental, life, accidental death and dismemberment, and disability insurance plans and benefits in an equitable manner and of maximum benefit to those covered within the available resources;
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 1-11-710
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. See South Carolina Code 1-11-703
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Devise: To gift property by will.
- Employee: includes an individual who contracts with an agency for personal services. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Person: means :
(a) an individual, labor union and organization, joint apprenticeship committee, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, mutual company, joint-stock company, trust, unincorporated organization, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, receiver, or other legal or commercial entity located in part or in whole in the State or doing business in the State;
(b) the State and any agency or local subdivision of an agency; or
(c) a political subdivision. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10 - SCRHI Trust Fund: means the South Carolina Retiree Health Insurance Trust Fund established pursuant to § 1-11-705 to fund the employer cost for health benefits for retired state employees and retired public school district employees. See South Carolina Code 1-11-703
- State health and dental plans: means any insurance program administered by the employee insurance program pursuant to this article. See South Carolina Code 1-11-703
- State Retirement Systems: means all retirement systems established pursuant to Title 9 except for the National Guard Retirement System. See South Carolina Code 1-11-703
(2) approve by August fifteenth of each year a plan of benefits, eligibility, and employer, employee, retiree, and dependent contributions for the next calendar year. The board shall devise a plan for the method and schedule of payment for the employer and employee share of contributions and by July first of the current fiscal year, develop and implement a plan increasing the employer contribution rates of the State Retirement Systems to a level adequate to cover the employer’s share for the current fiscal year’s cost of providing health and dental insurance to retired state and school district employees. The state health and dental plans must include a method for the distribution of the funds appropriated as provided by law which are designated for retiree insurance and also must include a method for allocating to school districts, excluding EIA funding, sufficient general fund monies to offset the additional cost incurred by these entities in their federal and other fund activities as a result of this employer contribution charge. The funds collected through increasing the employer contribution rates for the State Retirement Systems under this section must be deposited in the SCRHI Trust Fund established pursuant to § 1-11-705. The amounts appropriated in this section shall constitute the State’s pro rata contributions to these programs except the State shall pay its pro rata share of health and dental insurance premiums for retired state and public school employees for the current fiscal year;
(3) adjust the plan, benefits, or contributions, at any time to insure the fiscal stability of the system;
(4) set aside in separate continuing accounts in the State Treasury, appropriately identified, all funds, state-appropriated and other, received for actual health and dental insurance premiums due. Funds credited to these accounts may be used to pay the costs of administering the state health and dental plans and may not be used for purposes of other than providing insurance benefits for employees and retirees. A reserve equal to not less than one and one-half months’ claims must be maintained in the accounts.
(B) The board may authorize the Insurance Reserve Fund to provide reinsurance, in an approved format with actuarially developed rates, for the operation of the group health insurance or cafeteria plan program, as authorized by § 9-1-60, for active and retired employees of the State, and its public school districts and their eligible dependents. Premiums for reinsurance provided pursuant to this subsection must be paid out of state appropriated and other funds received for actual health insurance or cafeteria plan premiums due.
(C) Notwithstanding §§ 1-23-310 and 1-23-320 or any other provision of law, claims for benefits under any self-insured plan of insurance offered by the State to state and public school district employees and other eligible individuals must be resolved by procedures established by the board, which shall constitute the exclusive remedy for these claims, subject only to appellate judicial review consistent with the standards provided in § 1-23-380.
(D) The General Assembly intends to authorize funding for the SCRHI Trust Fund in order to make progress toward reaching or maintaining the minimum annual required contribution under Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 45. The board shall determine the minimum annual required contribution pursuant to § 1-11-705(H).
(E) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 38-71-730(3), for all fully insured insurance products where the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA) is the plan sponsor, PEBA may establish rules for eligibility and enrollment, including the timeframes for submitting enrollment elections and required supporting documentation. In no event may medical evidence of insurability be required sooner than thirty days from the date a person is first eligible to enroll in a fully insured insurance product.