| PEBB February 2008 Newsletter |
|
|
|
 |
| Have it your way |
|
With this newsletter's new design, you can read it your way:
-
Order to go as a PDF for printing on letter-size paper.
-
On the side as the Web version below
|
 |
|
|
|
| Know Your Board |
|
If a group of people made decisions about thousands of dollars worth of health coverage for you each year, would you want to know about the process and how you can have a say?
|
 |
What is the Benefit Board?
Statute created the Board in 1999. It sets the Board’s mission to provide high quality benefits that are affordable to the employer and employees. Voting members include four management and four labor representatives (see below). Two legislators serve as advisory members.
How does the Board "provide" benefits?
The Board
- Sets eligibility rules
- Designs the healthcare plans
- Solicits vendor proposals
- Evaluates the proposals
- Contracts with the vendors.
What’s a "plan design?"
For healthcare plans, design means what is covered and at what level. This includes healthcare services along with deductible, co-pay and coinsurance amounts.
When does the Board decide on plans?
It usually decides in January to renew existing plans or look for new ones. It tries to pick new plans by early summer.
How can I learn about Board decisions?
Read PEBB’s e-mails and newsletters. Attend Board meetings (usually scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month) or review the minutes on the Web.
What is the Board’s current focus?
The Board is focused on:
- The Medical Home concept to ensure you can get the right care at the right time and place
- Plans designed around evidence-based healthcare
- Support for employee wellness
- Communicating about healthcare and your benefits.
How can I provide input?
|
Connect with your Benefit Board
Voting Members
Diane Lovell, Chair; Sue Nelson, Vice Chair; Peter Callero;
Rocky King.; Paul McKenna; Jeanene Smith; Rich Peppers;
Bret West
Advisory Members
Rep Tina Kotek; Sen.William Morrisette
|
|
|
|
| The eyes have it |
|
 |
For 2008, your Benefit Board increased the benefit amount for glasses, lenses and contacts to $200 - up from $165 in 2007.
VSP provides the eyecare benefit in the Regence, Providence and Samaritan plans (not offered in the part-time plans). In VSP, you must use the entire benefit amount at once; you cannot carry it over.
|
Kaiser Permanente provides the eyecare benefit for its members.
In general, the benefit, including a covered exam, is available to children (to age 17) every 12 months and members 17 and older every 24 months.
|
|
|
| Do you need a check up? |
|
Remember back in the day, when everyone thought they needed an annual "physical?"
Today, doctors target health exams based on your age, sex and risks. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends the following screenings for most adults.
- Blood Pressure: at least every two years
- Blood Glucose: clinical decision based on risks
- Cancer Screenings:
- Breast - every one to two years beginning at 40
- Cervix - every one to three years no later than 21 and up to 65
- Prostate - clinical decision based on risks
- Colon - one to 10 years (based on type of test) beginning at 50
- Cholesterol: routinely for men at 35; women at 45
|
|
|
| Join the quit parade! |
|
In the last few years, more than 1,500 PEBB members got help to quit tobacco through Free & Clear.
Why not you? Why not now?
Whether you're motivated by your family, your health or your checkbook, you can quit. Check out your resources to help you (or a loved one) quit.
|
 |
|
|
|
| Clear out your 2007 FSA |
|
CLEAR OUT REMAINING FUNDS FROM YOUR 2007 FSA
|
|
|
| Healthcare FSA debit cards |
|
If you signed up for a healthcare FSA for 2008, you should have received a debit-card application and a claim form in the mail from ASIFlex.
Complete the application form and return it to ASIFlex. You should receive your debit card in a couple of weeks. You can use claim forms to request reimbursements in the meantime.
See the ASIFlex Web site for information on where and how to use the card. You will need to call to activate your card with your two-digit birth month and date.
|
|
|
| What to ask your dentist |
|
PEBB plans cover dental exams every six months and routine cleanings at least once a year. Yet nearly one third of PEBB members don’t even see their dentist each year.
Ask your dentist how often you should have an exam and cleanings. You may be eligible for cleanings up to four times per year.
|
|
|
| Crowns cost less this year |
|
You’ll pay less this year if you need to have a tooth crowned. Your coinsurance amount (the percentage you pay) went down from 50 percent to just 25 percent. Why the change?
- Crowns can help save teeth that may otherwise be lost.
- As we age, we tend to have more dental problems.
- Your Board wants to make sure this treatment is affordable.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
