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
PE19-07
TO: Health Benefits Administrators of Participating Employers (PEs) with NYSHIP Dental and/or Vision Benefits
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Dental and Vision Benefit Enhancements, effective June 1, 2019
DATE: June 24, 2019
The June 2019 Dental and Vision Benefits brochure for Participating Employers (PEs) is now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. This publication describes 2019 benefit changes that took effect June 1, as a result of the collective bargaining agreement that was administratively extended to PEs that offer NYSHIP dental and/or vision benefits. In addition to the changes described in the brochure, the waiting period for dental coverage is reduced from six months to 56 days for PE employees who are hired on or after June 1, 2019.
Distribution
This publication will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late June. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on June 8, 2019, so any PE Dental/Vision enrollee who was not on the file on that date should be provided with a copy. We will send you two copies of the publication.
Publications Available on NYSHIP Online: www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits
You can access the brochure on NYSHIP Online under the Other Benefits tab.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the PE Dental and Vision Benefits brochure (PE0161) 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.