HUMAN
RESOURCES
What's New This Year:
Changes to PennChoice Benefits
Our goal is to continue to provide
you with a variety of health care options that meet your needs
and provide the best possible value for you and your dependents.
With health care costs rising, we have to look for ways to control
these costs while still providing you with a competitive benefits
package.
While
your enrollment materials--which will be sent to you sometime
this week--will contain more detail on the changes to our plans,
here are a few highlights:
PENNCare
Adds Personal Choice Network
By
adding Independence Blue Cross' Personal Choice network to the
PENNCare Plan, we've increased the number of health care providers
you can see and from whom you will still receive "in-network"
benefits. Chances are that most doctors in the Delaware Valley
participate in Personal Choice.
Mental
Health Care Visits Increased for
Point of Service (POS) Plan and HMOs
Last
year, we increased the number of outpatient mental health care
visits you were eligible for to 30 visits. This year, we're increasing
that to 60 visits, if you see a provider within the Keystone or
Aetna networks.
Plan
100 Deductible Increases
Deductibles
for a single participant will increase from $200 to $300; family
deductibles will rise from $400 to $600. If you participate in
this plan, you'll also see significant increases in your pay period
contribution.
Dental
Plan
This
year, the MetLife dental plan will cover up to $1,500 worth of
eligible dental care services after you pay your portion of the
costs--a $500 increase over last year. (The limit for orthodontia
will remain at $1,000). We made this change in response to requests
by plan participants and after learning that most of our peer
universities offer this level of benefits. The Penn Faculty Practice
Plan continues to offer an unlimited annual maximum benefit.
Enroll for your 2002-2003
benefits from April 22 through May 3, 2002. |
Prescription
Drug News
Mail
Order Makes Sense
Do
you regularly take a brand-name prescription drug? If so, you
may be able to save yourself some time and money by ordering
through the mail.
Brand-name
drugs are expensive--for you and for Penn. But, for some medical
conditions, there just isn't a generic alternative. If your doctor
prescribes a brand-name drug for you, you'll want to consider
filling your prescription via mail order because it's usually
cheaper that way.
Starting on July 1, 2002, if you fill a brand-name prescription
without a generic equivalent at the drugstore, you'll have
to pay 30 percent of the cost of that drug for a one-month supply.
If you fill the same prescription through the mail order service,
you will pay just 10 percent of the cost of the drug for a three-month
supply.
For
example, say you have high cholesterol and your doctor prescribes
LipitorTM. Check out the yearly cost savings in the chart on this
page if you order this prescription through the mail versus filling
it at a drugstore.
In
addition, the co-insurance amounts through mail order will now
count towards your maximum out-of-pocket which is increasing from
$500 to $750 for single coverage and $1,500 to $2,000 for family
coverage.
Plus,
you save yourself the time it takes to call in your prescription
and drive to the drugstore to pick it up. Signing up for the mail
order service is easy. Contact Caremark at 1-800-378-0802 or visit
their website at www.rxrequest.com/upenn.
The first time you log on, you will need your eight-digit Penn
ID number, i.e., the middle set of numbers in your PennCard, and
you will have to choose a password. After that, you will be able
to order drug refills, check their status and get your prescription
history from the site.
We
also want you to be aware of Caremark Direct, a mail order service
outside the University's program, which allows Penn participants
to order certain non-covered prescriptions at discounted
prices. You may contact Caremark at 1-800-378-0193 to obtain pricing
information on the products offered, or access the same website
address shown above. For new users, after you register, click
Site Map (upper right hand corner), then Caremark Direct.
The
UPHS Point-of-Service (POS) Plan
When
you consider how many providers UPHS and Keystone have--and the
fact that you can still see out-of-network providers--the UPHS
Point-of-Service (POS) Plan shapes up as an excellent medical
plan option. Since this is a Managed Care Plan, you must select
a Primary Care Physician (PCP) when you enroll in the plan, and
obtain referrals from your PCP when you use doctors in the network.
Here's
how the UPHS POS Plan works:
Other
Medical Options
Note
that Penn will still continue to offer the following medical plan
options:
Aetna
HMO and Keystone HMO
HMOs
offer excellent preventive care services and require no deductibles
or claim forms. You must choose a Primary Care Physician (PCP)
who coordinates your care and any services you receive outside
the HMO network will not be reimbursed. Aetna has plans available
to those who live in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York
and California.
PENNCare
(now called PENNCare/Personal Choice)
The
addition of Independence Blue Cross' Personal Choice network increases
the number of providers who are considered "in-network."
If you've been seeing a doctor who was previously considered "out-of-network,"
chances are he/she is a member of the Personal Choice network.
The plan does not require you to choose a PCP and you will only
have to file claims forms if you receive care from an "out-of-network"
doctor. This plan continues to be expensive, though, and will
increase $18 a month for single employees and $46 a month for
those who choose family coverage.
Plan
100 (Indemnity Plan)
There
will be an increase in the annual deductible from $200 to $300
for single participants and from $400 to $600 for families. Since
Plan 100 is Penn's most expensive plan, participants will be asked
to contribute an additional $51 a month for single coverage and
$134 more a month for family coverage. Note that because there
are alternative medical programs which offer quality care and
are more cost effective, this plan is only available to employees
who were hired before July 1, 2000.
2002-2003
Health Care Rates
This table contains the health care rates for full-time University
faculty and staff. This information will also be included in the
information packets that will be sent to your home this week.
Part-time faculty and staff and Post-Docs will see the rates that
apply to them when they receive these packets.
CLICK
HERE for
information about Open Enrollment and Frequently
Asked Questions about Benefits.