Monthly Meetings of the Keweenaw Industrial Council

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Upcoming Meeting Location & Agenda

Keweenaw Industrial Council
Monthly Membership Meeting
Wednesday, September 8, 2004, 7:30 a.m.
UPPCo Headquarters Building, Community Room
Houghton, Michigan

Meeting Agenda

1. Approval of June 9, 2004 Meeting Minutes
   
   
2. Financial Report -- Bob Dupont
   
   
3. New Members:
• Ian McKilligan, Up and Running
• Ethan Nordwall, Crazydog, Inc.
  
  
4. Member Issues & Announcements
• Keweenaw Mountain Lodge Update -- Barb Foley
• Employee Training $ Available -- Joe Holman
• Major Grant for the SmartZone -- Alan West
  
  
5. Executive Director's Report
• Local economic conditions
• KIC Business Development Center
• Annual Wage Survey -- Fall, 2004
• New MEDC programs: direct loans to businesses, & downtown infrastructure grants
• Upcoming Exporting & MIOSHA workshops
• Credit card payments
  
  
6. Presentation -- "The Proposed Linden Dunes Golf Club: Using Reclaimed Land to support Tourism and Community Development," by Ed Fisher, Village of Lake Linden
   
   
7. Adjourn monthly meeting 8:30 a.m.

Next meeting: Wednesday, October 13th at 7:30 a.m. in the UPPCo Community Room

Minutes - June 9, 2004

Keweenaw Industrial Council
www.kicbiz.com
600 E. Lakeshore Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931
Telephone: 906-482-6817, FAX: 906-482-3203
Monthly Membership Meeting
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
UPPCo Headquarters Building, Community Room
Houghton, Michigan

Present:

KIC President, Frank Stipech, called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m.

Minutes -- The minutes of the May 12, 2004 meeting were approved as presented (Fink/Foley).

Member Announcements

• Barb Foley announced that grant and loan applications for winterizing and expanding the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge have been submitted to the Economic Development Administration and to USDA Rural Development. Foley also announced the fund drive for purchasing Hunter's Point in Copper Harbor is continuing and is within about $60,000 of reaching its goal.
• Phil Musser announced a 2-day Michigan's Cool U.P. Summit to be held in Escanaba in mid-August at which Governor Granholm will hand out cool awards to various organizations and projects. Organizations may sponsor events and have booths. KIC members are encouraged to nominate local companies for the cool awards. Call Phil at 482-6817 for more information.

Presentation: John Crusse and Gordon Erley, Humana Inc. discussed Humana's philosophy and its health insurance products. Humana currently covers 50,000 people in Michigan & 7 million nationally.

• Uses Preferred Providers of Michigan's (PPOM) network in the U.P. and their own network, Choicecare, elsewhere in the U.S.
• Will begin quoting insurance in the U.P. on July 1st.
• Emphasize consumer-diven healthcare which places more responsibility on consumers/employees to make better, more informed and cost effective health care choices
• Health savings accounts are important component for companies in reducing employee's costs.
• Humana plans offer higher deductibles, consumer-driven choices, and more emphasis on protecting against catastrophic health occurrences
• Consumers currently don't have the information they need on health costs to make informed choices (e.g., the cost of medical procedures from different providers, the cost of generic vs. brand name pharmaceuticals, etc.). Humana provides this comparative information via the internet on their website as part of their mission to educate consumers.
• From Humana's experience, 60% of covered family members spend less than $500 annually on health care; 5% of covered people account for 55% of health care costs. 30% of total health care costs could be saved if consumers were better informed.
• Humana has a paperless system for most health care claims -- covered employees are issued a debit card that can be used for many health expenses with no paper claims to file. Employees can go on-line to view their health accounts, how much deductible has been met, the cost of services, etc.
• Employers covered by Humana have been experiencing less than 10% annual increases for companies with more than 100 covered lives. Humana will cap annual increases.
• Humana will only issue insurance through local brokers.

A lengthy question and answer period followed. A number of members expressed interest in a "pooling" arrangement for KIC members as a way to decrease costs. Others ask that individuals and consultants also be covered under the pooling arrangement. Humana indicated it could take up to one year to determine the feasibility of "pooling" KIC members.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Philip Musser
Acting Secretary

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