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.
DAVID A. PATERSON
GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12239
www.cs.ny.gov
NANCY G. GROENWEGEN
COMMISSIONER
NY09-33
PE09-24
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: 2009 Retiree Health Benefits Meetings
DATE: July 15, 2009
We are pleased to inform you that the 2009 NYSHIP Retiree Health Benefits Meetings have been scheduled. Attached is the schedule for the year; it is also posted on our web site.
The schedule will not be mailed to enrollee homes or shipped to agencies. This is your only notice of the meetings. You may photocopy the schedule to post on your bulletin boards and put in new retiree packages. As shown to the right, current retirees will receive a postcard invitation approximately two to three weeks prior to the closest meeting in their area.
Since there is a delay in getting new retirees on the NYBEAS file, please be sure to include the schedule in their package since they will not receive a postcard. Please recycle any copies of the 2008 schedule you may have left.
Please note: These meetings are not for current employees. They should not be attending these meetings, since they have different questions and needs. The information at the retiree meetings is directed toward people who are no longer on the payroll.
To find the retiree meetings schedule and agenda of timely topics on HBA Online, click on Meetings & More. Then under Type of Event, scroll to Retiree Meeting. Retirees may also view this schedule on the Department of Civil Service web site at https://www.cs.state.ny.us by clicking on Retirees, then Health Benefits, and select the Calendar tab from the NYSHIP Online home page.
If you have any questions about these meetings, please call the Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.