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
PAEX19-09
TO: Health Benefits Administrators of Participating Agencies with the Excelsior Plan
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2019 Empire Plan Special Report for PA Excelsior
DATE: November 12, 2019
The October 2019 PA Excelsior Empire Plan Special Report is now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. This publication describes 2020 Plan benefit changes that were administratively extended to active employees and retirees of Participating Agencies (PAs) enrolled in the Excelsior Plan.
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 memo PAEX 19-12 for additional information about this publication. Please note that updated Excelsior Plan ID cards will be issued to enrollees in December.
The October 2019 Empire Plan Special Report for PA Excelsior includes:
Copayment changes, out-of-network deductible and coinsurance amounts and infertility benefits.
The copayment cards for PA Excelsior (EX0055) include:
New Empire Plan copayments for the group as a result of negotiated changes that were administratively extended to the group, effective January 1, 2020.
Distribution
This Report will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late October. 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 a copy. We will send you two copies of the Report and copayment cards, and 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 Report online under Using Your Benefits from the NYSHIP Online home page.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the Report, 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.