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HUMAN RESOURCES What's New This Year: 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 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.
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. 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:
More advantages include:
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 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
Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 30, April 16, 2002 |
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS: Tuesday,
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