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.
ANDREW M. CUOMO
Governor
LOLA W. BRABHAM
Acting Commissioner
NY18-19
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: September 2018 Empire Plan Special Reports for CSEA, DC-37 and UUP
DATE: September 7, 2018
The September 2018 CSEA Empire Plan Special Report, DC-37 Empire Plan Special Report and UUP Empire Plan Special Report are now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. These publications describe 2019 Empire Plan benefit changes as a result of collective bargaining agreements between the State and affected unions and the mailing includes updated 2019 copayment cards. These publications apply only to employees of New York State represented by the Civil Service Employee Association (CSEA), District Council 37 (DC-37) and United University Professions (UUP).
Since these changes are effective January 1, 2019, health insurance option changes will be done during the regular Option Transfer Period, which will be announced when rates are approved. Please note that any enrollee considering an option change should be referred to the 2019 Choices for active enrollees (AL1634) and the 2019 Choices Supplement (NY1259).
The September 2018 Empire Plan Special Reports for CSEA, DC-37 and UUP include:
Copayment changes, out-of-network deductible and coinsurance amounts and elimination of the New to You prescription drug requirement. For UUP, it also includes enrollment information about the 2018 Productivity Enhancement Program and elimination of the Opt-out Program for 2019.
The copayment cards for CSEA (NY1257), DC-37 (NY1258) and UUP (NY1273) include:
New Empire Plan copayments for each group as a result of negotiated changes effective January 1, 2019.
Distribution
These publications will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late September. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on September 1, 2018, so any enrollee who was not on the file on that date should be provided copies. We will send you two copies of each publication.
Publications Available on NYSHIP Online: www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits. You can also access the Reports online under Using Your Benefits from the NYSHIP Online home page.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the Reports and copayment cards on HBA Online under Publications & Forms. Please do not order copies until you have received your shipment. If you need help accessing HBA Online, contact the ITS Service Desk at 844-891-1786, fixit@its.ny.gov or via chat at https://chat.its.ny.gov. If you are unsure of how to order publications or have questions about this distribution, please call the EBD Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.