Transcript Retirement Presentation

THINKING ABOUT
RETIREMENT HEALTH
INSURANCE?
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State and Public School Retirement Health
Insurance is administered by Employee
Benefits Division (EBD).
PO Box 15610
501 Woodlane, Suite 500
Little Rock, AR 72231
(501) 682-9656
Toll Free (877) 815-1017
Fax (501) 682-1168
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A – Health & Life Continuation Under
Retirement System
B – Waiver of Enrollment
C – COBRA Continuation Only
D – COBRA Until Retirement Benefits Begin
E – COBRA When Retirement Benefits Are
Available
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Do you meet these eligibility requirements?
 Were you covered by the State & Public School
Health Plan on your last day of employment?
 Are you eligible to begin drawing a retirement
annuity check from one of the following retirement
agencies?
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Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS)
Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS)
Arkansas State Highway Employee Retirement System
Arkansas Judicial Retirement System
Alternate retirement plan such as VALIC
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You have the option to continue your current
health insurance by enrolling in COBRA for
18-months.
If you become eligible to draw your annuity
during this 18-month period, you have 30-days
to enroll in the retiree group health plan.
You can enroll in the retiree group health plan
when you do become eligible if requested
within 30-days of eligibility.
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An employee with five (5) accredited years as a state
employee AND five (5) years accredited years as a
public school employee (A participating member under
both APERS and ATRS, and drawing a retirement
annuity from each) may choose to enroll in either the
ASE or PSE retiree health plan.
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A member who does not have five (5) years under
either system, but has enough time between the two
systems to be eligible for reciprocity service will enroll
in the retiree health plan under their last retirement
agency group.
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You have a 31 day enrollment period from the
date your active health coverage ends to waive
coverage or enroll in the Retirement Health
Plan. Failure to act within this 31 day window
will result in losing your eligibility to enroll in
the plan. This decision is FINAL.
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An Election Form is required if you wish to
enroll in the retiree health insurance.
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A Bank Draft Authorization Form if your
retirement annuity is not large enough for your
health premium deduction.
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A Waiver of Enrollment (WOE) if you wish to
decline coverage at this time for you and/or your
dependents. This form is included in your
COBRA package and on the Election form.
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All forms must be sent to EBD.
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If you wish to continue your health insurance
into retirement, you must complete an Election
Form and send to EBD within 31 days of your
loss of coverage as an active employee. This
form gives us the authorization to enroll you
in our retirement health plan and to notify
your Retirement Agency to begin deducting
premiums.
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You will need to complete a Bank Draft
Authorization Form and return it to EBD
along with your Election Form if your
retirement annuity check is not large enough
to deduct your retirement health premium.
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Drafts are processed on the 7th of each month.
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You must complete a Waiver of Enrollment Form or an
Election Form waiving coverage and submit to
Employee Benefits Division within the 31-day
enrollment period for retirement health insurance if at
the time of retirement you are going to enroll in your
spouse’s group health coverage or you are going to be
actively employed and enrolled in your employer’s
group health plan. This gives you the right to enroll in
retirement health at a later date when you lose this
coverage.
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You do NOT need to waive coverage if you
are going from active coverage to COBRA
and then to retiree health insurance without a
break in service.
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Yes. If your family members experience a
qualifying event at a later date, and you wish
to enroll them on your retirement group health
plan, you must waive coverage and it must be
on file at Employee Benefits Division for your
dependents as well as yourself.
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If you do not complete either an Election Form
or waive coverage during the 31-day election
period, then the decision is FINAL and you will
no longer be eligible to enroll in the retiree
group health plan.
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The Arkansas Legislative Code states that if
your retirement annuity is large enough, your
premium must be deducted monthly from your
annuity.
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If you annuity is not large enough for your
premium deduction, then you are required to
have your monthly premium bank drafted
from your personal bank account.
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When you receive your Medicare card you need
to send EBD a copy. Your premium will be
adjusted as soon as verified by CMS
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Public School Retirees will lose their pharmacy
benefits when they become Medicare eligible
and will need to enroll in a Medicare Part D
plan for pharmacy coverage.
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Retirees who are eligible for Medicare must
carry Part B (physician) along with Part A. If
you do not have Medicare Part B, the plan will
pay as though the member does have Part B
and the member will have full responsibility
for claims incurred.
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You are not required to remain on our plan.
However, you need to be aware of the
coverage that we provide to our Medicare
eligible retirees.
1. We cover your Part A & Part B Medicare
deductibles.
2. We cover the 20% not paid by Medicare if
it is a covered benefit under our plan.
3. If you have a claim that is not covered by
Medicare and it is covered under our plan,
we will pay the claim according to our
deductible and coinsurance schedule
(typically 80% co-insurance).
4. If you decide to leave our plan and enroll in
a Medicare supplemental plan, you will
NOT be eligible to come back to our plan if
you are not satisfied with your new plan.
Your decision is final.
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If a retiree dies and has covered dependents at the
time of death, the dependents have the right to
continue coverage under the Plan.
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A surviving spouse, or collateral dependent, may
continue coverage under the Plan indefinitely as
long as premiums are paid timely.
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A surviving spouse can never add a dependent to
their coverage, unless the surviving spouse is
pregnant at the time the covered retiree dies.
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Dependent children may be covered until the
maximum age limit for a dependent child has been
reached.
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Once a dependent child experiences a loss of
dependent eligibility event, they can continue the
coverage under COBRA for an additional 36-month
period.
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If a surviving spouse or dependent declines coverage or
cancels existing coverage, then the surviving spouse or
dependent has no further privileges under the plan.
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If you are a retiree, you will need to contact
Minnesota Life Insurance Company directly at
1-800-843-8358. Forms are available on the
Employee Benefits Division web site.
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If you have other voluntary benefits such as a
cancer policy, additional life coverage, dental,
long-term care coverage, etc, you need to
contact those vendors directly if you wish to
continue coverage into retirement.
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Your Quarterly EBD Buzz contains information
about your health plan. This is our method of
reaching each of our members and informing
them of any changes in the plan, benefits or new
rates for the new plan year.
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Stay on top of new legislation. We administer our
plan according to Legislative Code.
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Call EBD with any questions/concerns.
General Benefit Information & Assistance
Mailing Address:
PO Box 15610
Little Rock, AR 72231-5610
Physical Address:
501 Woodlane Street, Suite 500
Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: (1-877) 815-1017
“Just Press One”
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E-mail:
[email protected]
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Web:
www.ARBenefits.org