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
NY19-26
PE19-14
PA19-10
TO: Health Benefits Administrators of New York State, Participating Employers and Participating Agencies with The Empire Plan
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2019 Empire Plan Reports for NY Retiree, PE and PA
DATE: November 1, 2019
The October 2019 NY Retiree Empire Plan Report, PE Empire Plan Report and PA Empire Plan Report are now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. These publications describe prescription drug copayment and formulary changes that were administratively extended to New York State retirees (NY Retirees), Participating Employers (PEs) and Participating Agencies (PAs), effective January 1, 2020.
The mailing also includes updated 2020 copayment cards and the Reporting On Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program publication, the newest addition in the Reporting On series. The publication describes the benefits of choosing mental health and substance use care from a network provider or at a network facility. See HBA memos NY 19-33, PE 19-20 and PA 19-13 for additional information about this publication.
The October 2019 Empire Plan Reports for NY Retiree, PE and PA include:
Prescription drug copayment and formulary changes, infertility benefits and hospice care coverage.
The copayment cards for NY Retiree (NY1304), PE (PE0165) and PA (PA0219) include:
New Empire Plan prescription drug copayments that are a result of negotiated changes that were administratively extended to each group, effective January 1, 2020.
Distribution
These publications will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late October to early November. The mail file was pulled from NYBEAS on October 21, 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 that pertains to your agency’s enrollment. Reporting On Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program 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, Reporting On Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program 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.