Page 17 - Work Force October 2023

Choosing your health insurance option for 2024
Summary of September Board of Directors Meeting
Editor’s Note:
The Work Force
publishes a • summary of actions
taken by CSEA’s
Board of Directors.
The summary is • prepared by CSEA
Statewide Secretary
Richard Bebo for Bebo
union members. •
ALBANY — CSEA’s statewide Board of Directors met on Sept. 7, 2023. In official business, the board:
• Approved the agreement between • CSEA and CSEA Lawyers’ Union (CLU) effective Oct. 1, 2023,
through Sept. 30, 2027.
• Approved the agreement • between CSEA and the Field Staff Association (FSA) effective Oct.
1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2027, contingent upon ratification by
FSA.
• Approved the Directors’ Budget
Committee report to the Board of
Sept. 7, 2023.
• Approved the proposed Financial
Standards Code changes presented in the Statewide Treasurer’s report to the Board of Sept. 7, 2023.
• Approved the 2024 Annual Delegates Meeting being held
Oct. 6 – 11, 2024 at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City. Approved the issuance of a temporary charter to Storm King Art Center Local 720 (Southern Region).
Approved the issuance of a temporary charter to Bangs Ambulance Inc. Local 718 (Central Region).
Approved changing the name
of Focus Otsego Nursing Home Local 782 (Cooperstown Centers for Nursing & Rehabilitation) to Otsego Health Care Local 782 (Central Region).
Approved dissolving the Waterfront Commission of
New York Harbor Local 066 (Metropolitan Region). Approved the appointment
of Jonathon Barlow Local
832 (Western Region) to the Western Region Political Action Committee, as contained in
the Statewide Legislative and Political Action Committee Report to the Board of Sept. 7, 2023.
Questions concerning the summary should be directed to Statewide Secretary Richard Bebo, CSEA Headquarters, 143 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210. (800) 342-4146 or (518) 257-1253.
New York State Active Employees: It’s that time of year to start thinking about your 2024 health insurance options.
New York State typically mails the Planning for Option Transfer flyers to enrollees in late September. The flyer describes the requirements and enrollment procedures
for several benefits and
programs, including
NYSHIP health
benefits, the Pre-Tax
Contribution Program
(PTCP) and the Opt-Out
Program, if applicable.
This document is an
important reminder
and contains benefits and
program deadlines.
If you are thinking of changing health insurance plans during the Open Enrollment Period, the NYSHIP Plan Comparison tool, available on NYSHIP online, generates an actual side-by-side comparison of Empire Plan and HMO benefits. This tool can
help you easily compare services, copayments, coinsurance amounts and special programs for The Empire Plan and NYSHIP HMOs.
The comparison tool will be updated with 2024 benefits later this fall, around the same time the Option Transfer Period begins. To access
this tool, visit the NYSHIP Online homepage at www.cs.ny.gov/
employee-benefits. Select your group and plan,
if prompted, and then choose Health Benefits & Option Transfer; click
on Rates and Health Plan Choices, then NYSHIP Plan
Comparison. Select your group (CSEA) and the counties
in which you live and work, to show available NYSHIP health plans. Check the box next to the plans you wish to compare and generate a comparison table.
Please watch for additional information in The Work Force as the option transfer period draws near.
Empire Plan participating provider directory
The Empire Plan is designed to provide enrollees with comprehensive medical care coverage. Using participating providers helps keep the cost to enrollees and the plan down.
The plan’s participating provider program includes medical/
surgical providers, laboratories, outpatient surgical locations, cardiac rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers, orthotic/prosthetic devices network, to name a few. The online directory is updated weekly.
Each year, the Empire Plan sends postcards to Empire Plan enrollees across the United States and Puerto Rico so that the enrollee may elect to have a printed directory mailed to them.
Although the online directories available are encouraged for use, since they contain the most updated
information, enrollees have three options for obtaining Empire Plan participating provider information:
• Visit empireplanproviders.com • Call the Empire Plan at
1-877-7-NYSHIP and select the appropriate program administrator.
• Return the postcard sent
by The Empire Plan (with a stamp) to request a directory for their mailing zip code or another state/region.
In compliance with federal law, a website or email address is included for providers who have reported
one. In compliance with state law, languages spoken by providers and/or their staff as well as provider hospital affiliations are listed for the New York directories only.
Cottrell is August PEOPLE Recruiter of the Month
SYRACUSE —
Ali Cottrell,
president
of the SUNY
Upstate Medical
University Local
in the Central
Region, is the
PEOPLE Recruiter
of the Month for
August, recruiting
20 new PEOPLE members at the MVP level.
“The PEOPLE program helps
give teeth to our bite when we have to lobby on a federal level,” said Cottrell. “Without this program,
we wouldn’t have the resources
to make a legislative difference to effect positive change for public employees. It’s important to encourage your co-workers to sign up.”
CSEA’s PEOPLE program protects and improves our jobs, benefits and pensions in Washington, Albany and in your community. Your support and participation in PEOPLE strengthens CSEA’s clout
in the workplace, in the legislature, in your community and in the labor movement.
— Nicholas Newcomb
Cottrell
October 2023
The Work Force 17