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
NY19-08
PE19-04
TO: Health Benefits Administrators of New York State and Participating Employers
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: March 2019 Empire Plan Special Reports for NY Retiree, PE Retiree and PE Active
DATE: March 28, 2019
The March 2019 NY Retiree Empire Plan Special Report, PE Retiree Empire Plan Special Report and PE Active 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 that were negotiated by State employee unions and were administratively extended to New York State retirees (NY Retirees) and Participating Employers (PEs), effective January 1, 2019.
Since EBD serves as the HBA for NY and PE retirees, the Welcome to EBD publication is enclosed with the NY Retiree and PE Retiree Special Reports. It will be mailed separately to the homes of NY and PE retirees who are enrolled in NYSHIP HMOs. This publication provides guidance to retirees about how to get assistance with their NYSHIP coverage. New 2019 copayment cards for NY Retirees and PEs were included in the 2019 At A Glance publication that was mailed to enrollee homes in December 2018.
The March 2019 Empire Plan Special Reports for NY Retiree, PE Retiree and PE Active include:
Copayment changes and out-of-network deductible and coinsurance amounts.
Distribution
These publications will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in early April. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on March 8, 2019, 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, and Welcome to EBD will be shipped separately.
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, Welcome to EBD 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.