PUBLIC EMPLOYEES BENEFIT TRUST (PEBT) BENEFITS REPORT
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 4 (June, 2004)

IF YOU GET A MEDICAL BILL STAY CLAM . . . THEN CALL PACFED

Hospitals and doctors working in our medical plans care for thousands of patients who produce millions of dollars in claims annually. It is, therefore, not surprising that occasionally a bill is sent out in error.

You should never get a bill for authorize services. If you do, then it's a mistake and PacFed can fix it.

Members' reactions to these occasional mistakes range from panic to out right apathy. The most appropriate reaction is somewhere in between. Although we don't usually recommend that you pay the bill, neither do we recommend that you ignore it.

After all, if the mistake isn't brought to the attention of the proper authorities, it could be turned over to a collection agency and your credit maybe be adversely affected. Here are a few "don't" if you ever get a bill in error.

Summary Annual Report

this is a summary of the annual report of the Union Heritage Trust Fund, E.I.N. 95-4845973, Plan No. 501, for the year ended April 30, 2003. The annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, US Department of Labor, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

The plan has contracts with Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield of California, Dental Health Services, Pacific Union Dental, Davis Vision, Eyecare Service Plan, MES Vision, and Transamerica Assurance Company to provide certain Medical, Life, Insurance, Accidental, Death and Disability benefits incurred under the terms of the plans. The total premiums paid for the year ended April 30, 2003 was $2,473,169.

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $202,920 as of April 30, 2003, compared to $95,931 as of May 1, 2002. During the plan year, the plan experience an increase in its net assets of 4106,989. During the plan year, the plan had total income of $2,874,378 including employer contributions of $2,790.375 and participant contributions of $84,003.

Plan expenses were $2,767, 389. These expenses included $283,373 in administrative expenses and $2,484,016 in benefits paid to or for participants and beneficiaries.

You have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, on request. The items listed below are included in the report:

1. An independent auditors' report;
2. Financial information and information on payments to service providers; and
3. Insurance information, including sales commissions paid by insurance carriers.

to obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write the office of PacFed Benefit Administrators, Inc., who is the contract administrator, 1000 North Central Avenue, Suite 400, Glendale, CA, (818) 243-0222. The charge to cover copying costs will be $7.25 for the full annual report, or 25¢ per page for any part therefor.

You also have the right to receive from the plan administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both. If you request a copy of the full annual report from the plain administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as parts of that report. The charge to cover copying costs given above doe snot include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.

You also have the legally protected right to examine the annual report at the main office of the plan (1000 North Central Avenue, Suite 400, Glendale, CA 91202-9905) and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of coping costs. Requests to the departments should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NY Washington, 20210.

Life comes with few guarantees. But here's one exception: Anyone who spends billion of dollars advertising a product will get a few people to listen. The latest examples involve brand-name drugs. In many cases, the people who are listening are Public Employees Benefit Trust members.

Massive advertising and marketing campaigns by brand-name drug makers over the past couple of years are causing patients to ask for specific medications by name.

Whereas a few years ago, an allergy sufferer may have asked her doctor for "something to control my sneezing and runny nose," today she says assertively: "Will you prescribe me some Allegra, please?"

Of course, asking for brandname medication is not a problem. but you must be aware that if you receive a brand-name medication a higher co-payment applies. for many members used paying a lower co-payment for a generic drug, this often comes as an unpleasant surprise.

Administrators have received dozens of phone calls over the past few months from members angry over what they bleieved to be a co-payment increase about which they were not informed. The fact is that the rules haven't changed at all. Higher dollar co-payments have always been required for brand-name medications.

There are a couple of ways you can guard against being surprised by a larger-than-expected co-payment:

• Awareness is key. Know the difference between generic and band-name drugs.
• ask your doctor if the prescribed medication has a generic counterpart. If it does, ask if that medication is appropriate for you.