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.
GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12239
www.cs.ny.gov
NY11-18
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: January 2011 Empire Plan Reports and NYSHIP General Information Book/Empire Plan Certificate Amendments
DATE: August 5, 2011
We will soon mail the January 2011 Empire Plan Reports and NYSHIP General Information
Book/ Empire Plan Certificate Amendments to the following groups: Council 82, CSEA, DC-37,
M/C; Legislature, NYSCOPBA PBA-S, PBA-T, PEF, PIA, NY Retiree, UCS and UUP.
The Empire Plan Report includes:
- Empire Plan Benefits
Federal Health Care Changes; Covering Your Young Adult Children; Other 2011 Empire Plan Amendments to Note; Herpes Zoster (Shingles) Vaccine; Medicare Durable Medical Equipment and Prothetics and Orthotics Supply (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program; Reminders: Empire Plan Toll-free Script Changes; MHSA Web Site Improved; New Travel Resource Available; 2011 Participating Provider Directory Postcards; Retiring and Relocating? (except Retiree); Relocating Outside New York State (Retiree only); Pre-Retirement Seminars (except Retiree); NYSHIP Retiree Health Benefits Meetings 2011 (Retiree only); Annual Notice of Mastectomy and Reconstructive Surgery Benefits and New Web Site Address.
The NYSHIP General Information Book and Empire Plan Certificate Amendmends include:
- NYSHIP General Information
Your Spouse; Your Child Under Age 26; Disabled Dependents; Coverage ends, Dependent Survivors; Medicare - Benefits Management Program
- Empire Plan Certificate Amendments
Empire BlueCross BlueShield: Transplants; Infertility Benefits; Travel Allowance; Medicare; UnitedHealthcare Medical/Surgical Program: Meaning of Terms Used; Meningitis Immunization; Annual Deductible; Basic Medical Program; Benefits Management; HCAP; Managed Physical Network; Infertility Benefits; Cancer Program; Travel Allowance; Coordination of Benefits; Medicare: Empire Plan Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program: Schedule of Benefits; Coordination of Benefits; Medicare; Empire Plan Prescription Drug Program: Meaning of Terms Used; Prior Authorization, Exclusions and Limitations (except CSEA and Unified Court System)
Distribution of Reports
These publications will be mailed to enrollee homes in August 2011. We will send you a separate supply of each publication equal to 1 percent of your affected enrollment.
Publications available on our web site: https://www.cs.ny.gov
Please check our web site for new publications. We generally post publications when we sign off for printing. That means you can see the publications before enrollees start receiving them.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the Reports, including Amendments, by using HBA Online. From the Department of Civil Service homepage, https://www.cs.ny.gov, select the Benefit Programs button from the left hand navigation. Then click on HBA Online. Open Publications & Forms, then open NYSHIP Publication Order Forms. These publications will also be included in the Quick Order packages, which are only available to order on HBA Online. If you need help accessing HBA Online, please call the Help Desk.
If you are unsure of how to order publications or have questions about this distribution, please call the Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.