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
NY18-21
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2018 Empire Plan Special Reports for UCS and PBA
DATE: October 12, 2018
The October 2018 UCS Empire Plan Special Report and PBA 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 Unified Court System and its unions and the State and the Police Benevolent Association (PBA). The mailing also includes updated 2019 copayment cards. These publications apply only to judges, justices, nonjudicial employees and employees designated Management/Confidential (M/Cs) of the Unified Court System (UCS) (excluding the Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County [COBANC]) and Troopers and Supervisors of the New York State Police represented by PBA.
Since these changes are effective January 1, 2019, health insurance option changes may be made 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 October 2018 Empire Plan Special Reports for UCS and PBA include:
Copayment changes, out-of-network deductible and coinsurance amounts and elimination of the New to You prescription drug requirement.
The copayment cards for UCS (CT0174) and PBA (NY1276) 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 mid-to-late October. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on October 9, 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
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.