7
Financial and Conclusion
Financial
For calendar year 2015, the
Trustees once again engaged the
accounting firm of Hill, Barth &
King, LLC to audit the Trust’s
books. This firm has concluded
its audit for the fiscal year-ending
December 31, 2015. Its audit
report confirms the substance of
the financial summaries in this
report:
• “Statements of Net Assets
Available for Benefits”
— Page 11
• “Statements of Changes in Net
Assets Available for Benefits”
— Page 12
• “Statements of Benefit
Obligations” — Page 13
• “Statements of Changes in
Benefit Obligations”
— Page 14
The Trust’s fund is not immune
to market trends. In each of their
regular meetings, the Trustees
monitor the performance of the
Trust’s investments and that of
their investment managers.
The Trust continues to have
group insurance contracts with
Aetna Life Insurance Company
to provide life insurance benefits
for covered retirees only. The
Trust provides the medical
benefits under the Plan through
a self-insurance arrangement
for covered retirees and spouses.
Aetna continues to provide certain
administrative services that are
important in the operations of
the Trust, including regular,
comprehensive internal audits.
Aetna’s audits of the Trust’s
internal operations continue to
show outstanding results. These
results reflect the cooperation,
attitude and performance of the
Trust’s staff. Once again, each of
this year’s three audits reflected
payment accuracies of 100% and
statistical accuracies of 100%.
The Trust continues to
perform “in house” audits on
certain medical claims, large
claims, and questionable claims.
The Trust encourages the use
of many types of cost-saving
measures when possible, such as
second surgical opinions; use of
outpatient, rather than inpatient
facilities; home healthcare;
individual case management;
FDA-approved, generic drugs, etc.
Conclusion
During the past fiscal year, the
Trustees continue to protect the
financial stability and long-term
viability of the Trust. As in the
past, the Trustees will continue
to make additional changes or
modifications to the Trust’s
operations, including the Trust’s
Plan of Benefits as-needed.
Even with the unpredictability of
health and healthcare issues, the
Trust is able to deliver innovative
programs and helpful support to
those it serves.
