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.
KATHY HOCHUL
Governor
REBECCA A. CORSO
Acting Commissioner
NY21-25
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2021 Empire Plan Reports
DATE: October 29, 2021
The October 2021 Empire Plan Reports are now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. The Reports explain changes to The Empire Plan and NYSHIP and have important reminders for enrollees, including information on COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, preventive care services and dependent eligibility. There is a version for NY Retirees and a single version for all active NY groups except for PEF, which has a separate Empire Plan Special Report. See HBA memo NY 21-26 for additional information about this publication.
Distribution
The Reports will begin to mail to enrollees’ homes in late October to early November. The mail files were pulled from NYBEAS on October 25, 2021, so any enrollee who was not on the file on that date should be provided with a copy. We will send you two copies each of both versions of the Report.
Publications Available on NYSHIP Online: www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits
You can also access the Report online under the Using Your Benefits tab then click on Publications on the NYSHIP Online home page.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the Report on HBA Online under Publications & Forms. Please do not order copies until you have received your shipments.
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.