The November meeting of Local 2250 Retiree members was held on November 8,
2022 at the Ken Worley Hall. The meeting was called to order by president Robin
Crouch at 10:30am. There was 171 members present.
Pledge of Allegiance, veterans acknowledged at this time. There has been no
members passing since last meeting.
E board moved to suspend the reading of October minutes and financial reports
for this meeting. Bill Wright seconded the motion, motion carried.
Robin informed members about Christmas Dinner sign up at back table.
Christmas Tickets are $5.00 each. Last day to sign up is Nov. 25 by calling the hall.
Robin moved to adjourn, Bill Wright seconded motion, motion carried.
Michael Fern with the trust benefit. All carriers are at the back if you would like
to talk to them. Davis Vision, Delta Dental, True Hearing, United Health Care and
BCBS.
Mission of trust. To provide every member with quality and affordable health
care now and in the future. Trust is a good news story. Should have received
information about the health care, save those for reference though out the year.
In 2023 we will have lower deductible , new drug plan, out of pocket max.
Under trust there is general retirees and protected retirees.
Trust revisited the program in 2020 to make sure that all members of trust were
protected. To be protected you would have to retiree before Oct. 1, 1990, passes
away. This means that if the member passes away their spouse would be
protected. Medical card will have a small P on it.
BCBS Enhanced Members not on Medicare covered cost went down. Your
monthly cost per month is going down. Deductibles are dropping.
If you have BCBS advantage your cost will go down. With the advantage plan you
don’t pay anything out of your pension. The cost for deductibles are also going
down.
On Medicare stand alone with BCBS as a supplement is also dropping in cost to
you as well as the deductibles.
Prescription drugs of name brand is dropping in cost to you. Preferred brand is
dropping in cost to you.
If on Atena you will automatically be moved to United Health Care, at first of you
If you have Medicare with BCBS as supplement you won’t be moved. If you have
BCBS Plus you won’t be move. If you want to change you will have to contact the
trust to move.
Extended service.
United Health Care Card the prescription drug will be on the same card that you
use for your health care. You won’t have separate card for prescriptions. If you
use virtual, or Tela doc for appointments United Health Care will work the same
way.
Silver Sneakers won’t be available anymore. This is a Atnea program.
Healthy Home have Meal delivery, in home rehab is available.
Express scripts is going away will be OptumRx. Question will they ship for free?
Yes
BSBC advantage all will be on one card also. RX will be on card. Traditional also
RX will be on same card.
If stand alone Medicare will have a separate card.
RX if have prescription left on script now it will be moved automatically to
OptumRx, but they can’t move payment information. Will get a packet about how
to set up payment information. Specialty meds are available with OptumRx and
will be cheaper. OptumRx has a specialty medication. Need to contact Drs that
provider has changed for prescriptions. If you need a 30 day supply of a drug you
will still go to the local pharmacy.
No change to dental insurance it will still be Dental Delta, teeth cleaning and Xray
doesn’t count against the 1700. If used up your 1700 can still get teeth cleaning
and Xray at no cost.
Hearing and vision is staying the same.
Over the counter benefit is staying the same. If you haven’t used all of this
benefit you should before first of year. If there is any money left for this year, it
won’t carry over to next year if haven’t spent all.
Don’t sign up for any health advantage that doesn’t have the trust logo on it. You
can’t be in 2 Medicare advantage plans, it will kick you out of the trust insurance.
Stand-alone Medicare BSBC traditional. Will get a separate card for RX
BCBS advantage will get new card with OptumRx on card. Will not automatically
move. Must call to change.
If you have Atena Advantage, it is changing to United Health care with OptumRx
on card. Will automatically be moved to United Health Care on Jan 1, 2023 if you
don’t contact the trust and make a change.
Be sure if you want to change call the trust before Nov. 30
If you are ageing into Medicare talk to him after the meeting. Will default in
traditional coverage. 3 months before you turn 65 you have to sign up for
Medicare A and B. Can’t be in trust insurance without being in Medicare A and B.
Questions
If prescription is going to run out before the first of year what should we do?
Express Scripts will cover to end of year.
Chiropractor covered? Yes, it is covered
Funding of trust, will it run out? Ford, GM, Chrysler all look at how many people
they are covering and cost of insurance. Then they project how much money it
will take to support the last person able to draw on the trust. There are a lot of
what ifs, if the age of people to draw Medicare changes it will take a amount of
money required to take all the members to their end of life. It is constantly
looked at and tracked.
Will Pharmacies accept OptumRx? Yes, you can but will save the most if you use
OptumRx mail in.
How many retirees total? 560000
Specialty drugs refill will it transfer? If there is a transfer on your specialty drug it
will transfer over to OptumRx.
Is there a separate app and password to get onto the website to order for
OptumRx? Not sure will have to check on this for you.
Compare the 2-advantage plan. BCBS advantage and United Health Care have
some of the benefits that BCBS doesn’t have. In the State of Missouri, you have 2
plans to choose from that are advantage. Plus, the stand-alone plan. It is a
personal choice on which plan you want.
Down the road can you switch back if don’t like it? Yes, you can switch if you
want, you won’t have to wait until the first of year. If you switch in the middle of
the year, you have already paid some of the deductible and it will start over if you
change. Therefore, most people do it at the first of the year. This is a group plan
not the same as you see on TV.
If out of state or country what is the coverage? With all plans you have
emergency care in US if you are out of the country, you would have emergency
care if life threating. If taking a trip out of country, trip insurance should be
investigated for your trip.
Prescription carry over, refills? If have refills left that will take it into 2023 they
will automatically be transferred to OptumRx. If you have new prescriptions after
1 st of year will have to have doctor send to OptumRx.
Ambulance is it 100% coverage? You have air and land coverage under the plan,
not sure if it is 100%. There is limits in the coverage.
Express scripts why change? People that track want the members to have the
best they can afford. This is across the country and reaching everyone, some have
had problems with Express Scripts. Trust chooses this because they felt like it was
better for all retirees across the country.
Why don’t they let us use pharmacy of our choice, just give me the money and I
choose? Because this is covering the whole country and not everyone has a
cheaper option.
How do you get a health care list? No list, there is a phone number to call to see
if doctor is covered.
This concludes the Trust presentation. Robin hopes that this answers all of the
questions you have about our new health care.
Don Smith, Happy Veterans Day. Friday is Veterans Day, a lot of places are
offering discounts to free stuff, so be sure to check things out.
Robin asked for volunteers to help decorate hall for the Christmas party on Dec.
12 at 9am.
Attendance prize and 50/50’s were drawn.
This concludes the meeting and the Thanksgiving was enjoyed by all.
