February 2016 Welfare Notes

February, 2016

Enrollment in Medical and Dental Plans for Active Participants

 

When you become eligible for benefits, you must enroll in a Plan to have medical and dental coverage.  Please contact the SUP Welfare Plan if you need enrollment forms or have any questions about the plans. 

 

If you live outside of an HMO area, a payment is required of the member to help with the cost of the premium for the Health Net PPO medical plans.  Since our contracts have a live-in-the-area or work-in-the-area provision, you can enroll in an HMO medical plan and use the union hall as the address when enrolling in the plan.  Enrollments in the HMO medical plans do not require any payment from the members.

 

You can use the HMO Plan when you are in port.  Only emergency medical treatment is covered outside of the HMO area.

 

Be sure to complete the enrollment forms with the correct information and mail copies of marriage certificates to enroll a spouse and copies of birth certificates for any dependent children you are enrolling. 

 

Ex-spouses cannot be enrolled with the medical and dental plans.  Send copies of the final divorce decree to the SUP Welfare Plan as soon as possible so we can comply with federal COBRA laws and inform the pension department of your change in marriage status.

 

Check the information you have indicated to make sure birth dates and social security numbers are correct and the names listed are the names you want to appear on the Plan records and any ID cards that are issued.  Please call the SUP Welfare Plan if you have any questions about completing the enrollment forms.

 

Enrollments are often delayed because the form does not have the required signature.  Also note you can enroll in only one medical and one dental plan.  California residents have a choice of Kaiser or Health Net HMO or PPO medical plans and Delta Care or United Health Care/Pacific Union Dental plans.  Submitting enrollments for multiple plans will delay your enrollment in any plan until your choice is verified.

 

Please inform the SUP Welfare of dependent changes including death and divorce and address changes.