The Empire Plan is a unique health insurance plan designed especially for public employees in New York State. Empire Plan benefits include inpatient and outpatient hospital coverage, medical/surgical coverage, Centers of Excellence for transplants, infertility and cancer, home care services, equipment and supplies, mental health and substance abuse coverage and prescription drug coverage.
PE15-14
TO: Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: PE Retiree Publications
DATE: August 3, 2015
In order to better serve the needs of Participating Employer (PE) enrollees, a new approach for health insurance publications is being implemented. All PE enrollees (active and retiree) will be addressed in a single version, rather than separate publications for Active PE and NY/PE Retiree.
A significant revision of the General Information Book (GIB) is underway for PEs, with a tentative release date of late fall 2015. This new publication will address both Empire Plan and NYSHIP HMO enrollees and the front half of the book will be for active enrollees, while the back half will be for non-active (retired) enrollees. In addition, rather than issuing amendments to the GIB, the book will be reissued more regularly in order to minimize both confusion and the volume of materials enrollees and agencies receive. (Note: The GIB for NY Retirees has just been completed and reissued, however this book does not apply to PE retirees).
In the second phase of this project, The Empire Plan Certificate for PEs will be updated and reissued as a separate document. Amendments to the current certificates are also being handled a bit differently. Enrollees are notified of the amendments in their Empire Plan Report; however the text of the actual amendments is only being posted on NYSHIP Online. Once the updated certificate is available, our intent is to also reissue it more regularly when significant amendments have been made.
As a reminder, NYSHIP Online, HBA Online and the NYSHIP publications order forms accurately reflect the correct materials for PE enrollees. Additionally, the Quick Order packages are a complete set of materials for either PE Actives or PE Retirees (Empire Plan or HMO). We will continue to update these resources as we complete stages of this project so please check them periodically. If you have any questions about these changes, contact the EBD Communications Unit at 518-457-7757.