Hi, I'm Stuart Greenfield and your vote elected me to the ERS Board of Trustees.

PS: One of the things I suggested at the forum was for ERS to make greater use of Chat GPT to improve the delivery of services to both active and retired members. I also urge everyone to mess with this LLM.

Stuart Greenfield holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas. He was hired by Comptroller Bullock in February 1977 and worked for two other Texas Comptrollers of Public Accounts and other Texas state agencies. Since retiring from the state in 2000, Stuart has taught economics at Austin Community College and the University of Maryland Global College. He has also worked on various projects that interest him, including preparing testimony on the dismal investment performance of ERS investments, analysis of the public sector pay in Texas relative to other states (Yes, you are underpaid), researching the aging of the public sector workforce and its implications, and analyzing the fiscal condition of Texas (it's better then expected).

Having Issues?

While you can contact me, would you also please call ERS (877) 275-4377 concerning issues with Express-Scripts or other retirement issues?

March 5, 2025 ERS Board Meeting

The ERS Board of Trustees met on March 5, 2025, to discuss various issues. Below are links to the testimony the ERS presented to the House Appropriation Committee concerning Agency operations, including the cost of a "true" 13th check:

· Cathy Terrill testified to the House Appropriations Committee. She provided a general overview but the Chair asked her specific to the interest avoided by the state making additional payments to address the ERS actuarial liabilities. Representative Donna Howard asked about the cost of a "true" 13th check--around $250 million.

You can watch her testimony here.

This hearing was invited testimony only – no public testimony.

· Porter Wilson, Exec Director testified to the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on General Appropriations Act Articles 1, 4 and 5.

You can watch his testimony here and the ERS related public Acrobat presentation.

December 10-11, 2024 ERS Board Meeting

. At 9:55, Item 6, on the agenda, will discuss the Actuarial Valuation and Financial Status. View an AI-generated summary of the actuary report. On Wednesday at 9 am, Item 19 will have a presentation from retiree groups, and Item 26 at 11:50 will discuss the upcoming COLA, and I expect a discussion of how additional benefit supplements can be implemented.

August 21, 2024 ERS Board Meeting

The ERS Board of Trustees will meet on August 21, 2024, to discuss various issues. Item 11, Agency Update, on the agenda, will discuss the upcoming COLA, and I expect a discussion of how additional benefit supplements can be implemented. Please email Kelley.Davenport@ers.texas.gov with your comments on any issue/concern/appreciation you have concerning ERS. I will release my research, "Will the 89th be like the 88th was for TRS? We Can All Hope and Pray!" following the Board's discussion on the 21st.

Why is Augmented Intelligence (AI) Good and Good for You

Last Tuesday, I did an AI presentation at Westminster. The material from the presentation is available at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u38gOpXSGqSPSS783lNKuupjlGNL7gRP?usp=drive_link. There is both a video and a document w/ links. Let me know your thoughts/comments. A better way to think of AI is as Augmented intelligence.

Notes from the December 10-11 Board Meeting

One of the most important presentation at this quarter's Board meeting will be

Notes from May 22, 2024 Board Meeting

Great news, health insurance rates will not increase in FY25. Issues w/ Express Scripts are being resolved. Investment returns exceeded benchmarks. While there will/should be an increase in the annuity of those who retired over 20 years in January 2025, this covers 27 percent of retirees. I hope the Board will discuss retirement increases in the upcoming meetings in August and December.

December 5-6: ERS Board Meeting

My first Board meeting went well. In fact, two of the appointed board members who were sitting next to me complimented me on asking questions. At one of my orientation sessions, a couple of the executive staff commented that they had not been asked as many questions in previous board orientation sessions.

The Tuesday session focused on the retirement funds' fiscal status. The lege appropriated enough funds to eliminate the unfunded liability for the Law Enforcement and Custodial Officer Supplemental Retirement Fund (LECOSRF) and the Judicial Retirement System (JRS) Plans. The 88th lege did provide $1.9 billion to augment the ERS Retirement Plan. This supplement will allow ERS to increase the monthly check for those of us who have been retired for twenty years or more in January 2025. This annuity increase will be three percent of one's monthly check w/ a maximum of $100. I will be going to the investment division meeting in January to discuss w/ them how returns could be improved to provide other's w/ an increase.

ERS will need to more actively discuss w/ the 89th lege funding to provide all retired state employees w/ an increase comparable to that provided to retired teachers. I estimate that providing a 13th check to all retirees would require a one-time appropriation of almost $1 billion from the legislature. An alternative, similar to the lump sum that teachers received, would require a $450 million appropriation. While I would like ERS to take more risk, they have justifications for requiring appropriations from the lege.

The Wednesday meeting focused on benefits. ERS is very aware of the issues w/ the United Advantage plan and Austin area providers. I made a few efforts to ask why ERS doesn't use its importance to United and local providers to get a resolution. ERS is probably the second-largest provider of insurance coverage in the state. Only TRS is bigger. ERS is also a large insurance provider for those in the Austin area. I will continue to pester the ERS benefits group to ensure we can obtain services from all Austin area providers w/out having to file for reimbursement. I was told that Blaise Duran, the acting head of Group Benefits, is related to Susan Combs.

While following bureaucratic rules was never my forte, should you have any questions or concerns, please email me at stuart.greenfield@ers.texas.gov and sjg@austin.rr.com. As an ERS Board member, I cannot "lobby." However, I have already met w/ the four groups, AFSCME, RSEA, TPEA, and TSEU, that represent active and retired state employees. I will continue to do so to improve both active and retired employee compensation.

ERS Statement on Benefit Increase

The state should continue to have beaucoup dollars as the Certification Revenue Estimate (CRE) shows an ending cash balance in 2025 of $18.3 billion.

February 5: Increase in Drug Prices

On one's first prescription, there is a $50 deductible each of us is responsible for. That may explain the $50 dollar difference for your first prescription. One should compare the pricing at Express Scripts w/ that from GoodRx.com and apply for a GoodRx card. You can use the card at Walmart, HEB, CVS, and Walgreens.

January 5: Austin Radiology Associates (ARA) status update

I thought I had uncovered a way to have ARA send one bill to UHC even though ARA is not in-network. Unfortunately, the process only works for those requiring continuity of care. So, if you've been receiving scans for treatment over the past year, you should call UHC and obtain an interaction or referral number. One can then use this number when booking an appointment at ARA. Here's a link to other radiological services.

One can also do a Google search for"radiological services near Kyle tx". Replace Kyle w/ the area you live in.

October 19: Austin Radiology Associates (ARA) status update

I was at an orientation session at ERS today and asked about the status of United Health Care and ARA. The parties are still negotiating, and ARA will now accept appointments from UHC members. However, ARA will require payment, so one will need to file a claim w/ UHC. It is not the most brilliant move by both parties, as ARA will need to pay a credit card processing fee, and UHC will have to process a member submission, which is more complex than directly paying the provider.

As I learn more, I will keep everyone updated.

September 20: Letter from Corrections Officer's Wife wrt COLA

I received a letter from the wife of a corrections officer who retired in 1997. While he did receive the COLA and 13th check in 2000, since then, bubkes. I want to share my response to this letter and the document "ERS statement on the status of the ERS Retirement Plan and increases for retirees."

It would have been informative had ERS made its status document available to all retirees. They have the email addresses of many/most retirees, and informing them of the status of a supplement should have been a no-brainer. Nothing in that document violated any state constitutional amendment, state law, or agency rule or regulation. I will make every effort to improve the information flow between ERS and, retirees and active employees.

September 14: Update on Austin Radiological Association and United Healthcare

A couple of things:

First, I received the following from Blaise Duran, acting director of benefits at ERS:

Dr. Greenfield,

I wanted to update you on the Austin Radiological Association (ARA) negotiations. I had a meeting with United's network team, and they are optimistic that something will get done with ARA sooner rather than later. United couldn't give a specific timeline but did mention not wanting to wait until 1/1 for a new agreement to get in place and are targeting sometime this fall. They just sent their latest proposal back to ARA, and they indicated the two sides are closer than they had been previously. They also told me that ARA is seeing members and sending in claims. Since negations appear to be less contentious, I asked them to reach out to ARA to please instruct their staff to see our participants since we know some people have gotten turned away. I'm not sure if that's still happening or not, but I wanted to be sure.

As far as national negotiations with Radiology Partners, that's still ongoing but at a slower pace, and a local agreement should be in place before those are finalized. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

If you still have issues w/ ARA, please contact Blaise Duran and me at sjg@austin.rr.com

Second, Senator Borris L. Miles from Houston sent a letter to our governor concerning a "13th check," https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yHYddJso-TS1Gb9M4kx8HyjXcRyEekbS/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116412360996984222945&rtpof=true&sd=true. I need to complete my analysis on the additional funding that is available. I hope to speak w/ the Comptroller about supporting an increase, as there are around 2,500 CPAers who are retired. Fortunately, working for the agency, out average retirement annuity is about fifty percent more than the average state retiree.

Finally, while there is no official swearing-in or swearing at me, I'm planning a get-together at the Shoal Creek Salon on Lamar Blvd on Thursday, Sept 28 from 3 - ?. Unlike my retirement event at Schlotz's in 2000, I cannot buy kegs; however, I will cover the cost of the first 200 bottles of beer. So let me know if you can attend, as your support was critical to my being elected.

Hope to see you soon.

August 2: Greenfield elected to serve on ERS Board of Trustees

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