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
TIMOTHY R. HOGUES
Commissioner
NY23-24
TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: October 2023 Empire Plan Special Report for NY Active Employees Represented by PEF and UUP
DATE: October 31, 2023
Effective January 1, 2024, there will be Empire Plan benefit changes as a result of the recently ratified contracts between the State and the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the United University Professions (UUP).
Special Empire Plan Report
An October 2023 Empire Plan Special Report for affected NY Active employees (NY1483) is now available online and will soon be mailed to enrollee homes and agencies. The October Report includes information about reduced in-network maximum out-of-pocket limits, single visit copayment, new reimbursement methodology for non-network claims and a new Center of Excellence for Substance Use Disorder. Note: Since copayments are not changing, group-specific copayment cards are still accurate and enrollees may contact HBAs for replacement copies.
Distribution
The October 2023 publication will begin to mail to enrollee homes in late October-early November. The mail files were pulled from NYBEAS on October 28, 2023, so any enrollee who was not on the file on that date should be provided with a copy. We will also ship two copies of the publication to agencies.
January 1 Benefit Changes Online Presentation
An informational presentation about the benefit changes has been created and is available online. A QR code is included in the Report to access the presentation using a mobile device or tablet. The approximately 12-minute online resource can also be accessed on NYSHIP Online under What’s New.
Publications Available on NYSHIP Online: www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits
You can access the publications online under Using Your Benefits>Current Publications from the NYSHIP Online homepage.
Ordering Publications
You may order additional copies of the publications 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.