SHARP Message #701

Message Text:

Open Enrollment Plan Year 2008 Information

We encourage you to share the following Open Enrollment information with your employees. We are concerned that some employees may not realize that if they currently have Kansas Choice or Coventry PPO they defaulted to a Plan B, which has higher costs. If the employee is one who allows their health insurance plan to continue from one year to the next without change, the employee may regret that decision because they will likely pay too much for health insurance. Also, the Division of Personnel Services will provide agency open enrollment reports via the MVS mailbox some time next week. The reports will list your employees who have completed group health insurance elections and enrollment activity in Flexible Spending Accounts for Plan Year 2008.

HEALTH INSURANCE OPEN ENROLLMENT

Group health insurance open enrollment runs through October 31, 2007. All employees should take the time to read through the information received in their packet as there are significant changes to the medical coverage for 2008. There will no longer be the traditional HMO or PPO plans. You no longer need to designate a Primary Care Physician and you do not need referrals in order to see a specialist. They are being replaced by PLAN A and PLAN B. If you do not enroll, the medical plan you now have will be automatically converted. The conversion plan is as follows:

Kansas Choice PPO converts to Blue Cross/Blue Shield – Plan B

Coventry PPO converts to Coventry – Plan B

Premier Blue HMO converts to Blue Cross/Blue Shield – Plan A

Coventry HMO converts to Coventry – Plan A

Preferred Plus HMO converts to Preferred Health – Plan A

Many of you have already attended meetings and realize that for the majority of employees Plan A is the more attractive and affordable plan. In fact, of those employees who have already made their health insurance decisions, nearly 99 percent have chosen Plan A. The table below shows the differences between the two plans; everything else with the two plans is identical.

As you can see Plan A is a far better plan unless you think you will have many, many, many lab tests run during the coverage year. Don’t put off completing your enrollment because if you currently have Kansas Choice and you do not complete the open enrollment form you will automatically be put into Plan B. ENROLLMENT MUST BE COMPLETED BY OCTOBER 31, 2007.