Department of Civil Service

NY01-29

TO: New York State Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: New NYSHIP General Information Book and Empire Plan Certificate for CSEA
DATE: August 13, 2001

At the printer: New NYSHIP General Information Book and Empire Plan Certificate for State employees represented by CSEA (not for Unified Court System).

We are happy to announce that the August 1, 2001 NYSHIP General Information Book and Empire Plan Certificate for Employees of the State of New York represented by CSEA is at the printer.

We will mail this book in late August to the homes of State employees represented by CSEA who are in the Empire Plan and were on the NYBEAS file as of August 6, 2001. You will receive a supply equal to 10 percent of your enrollment to hand out to new enrollees.

This book replaces the August 1, 1995 book/certificate for CSEA as well as all Empire Plan Reports and Amendments updating that book. Please remove those old materials from your shelves and recycle them when you receive your supply of the new book.

The book has many helpful new features. For example, we have introduced a new easy-to-read design, have added telephone symbols to the front cover as a guide to prior authorization requirements, expanded the Medicare information, listed Web sites and added an index.

COBRA Notice

As soon as you receive your supply of the new book, it will no longer be necessary for you to mail a COBRA notice to new CSEA-represented employees in the Empire Plan. Thank you for mailing the notice temporarily as instructed in memo NY01-10A (dated May 4, 2001).

Publications available online

Please check the Web site for copies of new publications. We generally post publications when we sign off for printing. That means you can see the publications before employees start receiving them. To find the new book on the PA-MARKET Web site for Health Benefit Administrators, go to the home page and choose Publications and Forms.

Reordering

If you need to reorder the new book [GIB-EP/CSEA/8-01], please use the Publications Supply Request Form sent with this memo. Or, instead of faxing the form you may order on PA-MARKET. From the homepage, open Publications and Forms, then open NYSHIP Publication Order Forms. Here you may select a group, then "Order Online" or "Print or View Form" and follow instructions. Please wait until you receive your shipments of the new book [GIB-EP/CSEA/8-01] before you place an order. If you need help accessing PA-MARKET, please ask the Help Desk or your processor.

If you have questions about this distribution, please call the Communications Unit at 518-457-7577.