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
COMMISSIONER
NY13-28
PE13-21
PA13-16
SEHP13-07
PAEX13-18
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Employer Health Benefits Administrators; Student Employee Health Plan (SEHP) Health Benefits Administrators; Participating Agency Health Benefits Administrators with The Empire Plan; Participati
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: January 2014 At A Glance
DATE: December 18, 2013
We are pleased to announce the publication of the January 2014 At A Glance. The At A Glance is a guide to the Plan benefits. Encourage employees to use this guide together with their Empire Plan Certificate and Amendments and Empire Plan Reports.
The 2014 Empire Plan Flexible Formulary Drug List will be included with each of the At A Glance mailings (Excelsior Plan enrollees will receive the 2014 Formulary Drug List for the Excelsior Plan). The 2014 Empire Plan Preventive Care Coverage Chart, a summary of current federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) coverage requirements, will be included for nongrandfathered groups only: APSU, Council 82, CSEA, M/C; Legislature, NYSCOPBA, NY/PE Retiree, PA Empire Plan, PA Excelsior Plan, PE, PEF, UCS, UUP. The Excelsior Plan At A Glance will also include a new copay card.
Distribution
We will mail the At A Glance to enrollee homes in December. The file for this mailing was pulled from NYBEAS on December 5, so any enrollee not on NYBEAS as of this date should be provided with a copy. We will send a supply equal to 1% of your agency enrollment to you for new employees or retirees. See below for specific ordering information.
We will send a separate mailing of the Preventive Care Coverage Chart, Empire Plan Flexible Formulary Drug List, Excelsior Formulary Drug List, and Excelsior copayment card in one shipment to agencies.
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. Go to the Department of Civil Service web site at https://www.cs.ny.gov and choose Benefit Programs, then NYSHIP Online and select your group, if prompted. Publications are available under Using Your Benefits.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the At A Glance on HBA Online under Publications & Forms. This publication is included in the Quick Order packages, which are only available to order on HBA Online. (They can be mailed directly to the enrollee’s home.) Please wait until you receive your shipment of the new publications before you place an order.
If you need help accessing HBA Online, please call the GGC Service Desk at Civil Service at 1-800-HBAEMS1. Call the HBA Help Line at 518-474-2780 with questions about information in the At A Glance. 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.