Your benefits package is an important part of your overall business strategy and your business's bottom line. Chamber members have access to innovative benefits solution program that provides ultimate control and savings as well as easy administration.
The Chamber of Southern Saratoga County and Bouchey & Clarke Benefits, Inc. have teamed up to introduce Bright Choices, a unique consumer-centric benefits solution. We encourage you to learn more about this innovative, all-in-one benefits solution and why it is right for you. Download brochure here.
Health care benefits from Bright Choices are offered through the local, trusted health plan of more than 25 years, CDPHP®. CDPHP has a new plan portfolio designed for Chamber of Southern Saratoga County members. Employees can personally select from seven different CDPHP health plans to meet their individual needs, ranging from a predictable HMO to a more flexible high deductible plan. They also include an award-winning care management program, value-added wellness service, and savings tools, as well as the CDPHP Life PointsSM incentive program, which rewards employees with up to $365 worth of points per year for completing healthy activities, a unique benefit for Chamber members!
View 2012 Rates and Benefits Overview at a Glance here
Benefits Buzz - May 2012
If you are not yet a Chamber member and are interested in the Bright Choices Insurance Plan we encourage you to please contact Nigar Hale at (518) 371-7748 for more information on joining our Chamber.
GET STARTED NOW!
Employers:
Employers that are joining the Chamber insurance Program must fill out a group enrollment form, and mail or fax it in along with some basic company information.
Employees:
Once your company is signed up, your employees can use the Bright Choices Portal to learn about and enroll in the insurance benefits.
Login instructions for Bright Choices:
Group Identifier: COSSC
Login Name: Your first initial + last initial + last 4 of Social Security Number (SSN)
Password: 4-digit month and day of your date of birth plus the first 5 digits of your SSN
The first time you log in, you will be asked to change your password.
Questions regarding Login? Please call 1-866-542-9661.
For those who prefer to use paper forms that option is still available. Download personal enrollment form here
Plan Selection: To learn about the plans available check out the Benefits at a Glance
Medicare Prescription Drug Credible Coverage Notice: DUE OCTOBER 15
Federal law requires that employers provide a notice to employees about their prescription drug coverage. This notice relates to the Medicare prescription drug benefits (under Part D of Medicare). Specifically, this annual notice must inform Medicare-eligible individuals whether their employer-provided prescription drug coverage is “creditable.” Coverage is considered creditable if its actuarial value equals or exceeds the actuarial value of standard prescription drug coverage under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. This information is important because Medicare Part D imposes late enrollment penalties for Medicare-eligible individuals who do not maintain “creditable coverage” for any period of 63 days or longer and this notice provides employees with the information they need to determine if their employer-provided coverage is adequate to allow them to avoid late enrollment penalties in the future.
Attached below are notices that can be provided to inform employees of the status of their prescription drug coverage. The attached notices are based on model notices issued by the government agency that administers Medicare (“CMS”).
Please click link below to download the Notices and read notes below for further clarification:
Please note:
- The Notice of Creditable Coverage informs employees that their coverage is creditable. Generally, we anticipate that most employer-provided prescription drug coverage meets the standards required to be “creditable.” Attached is guidance issued by CMS to help employers determine if coverage is creditable: https://www.cms.gov/CreditableCoverage/downloads/CCSimplified091809.pdf You can also confirm that your coverage is creditable by checking with your carrier.
- The Notice of Creditable Coverage informs employees that their coverage is “creditable” and is included as Attachment 1 above.
- The Non-Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice informs employees that their coverage is not “creditable” and describes the implications of not maintaining creditable coverage. This Notice is included as Attachment 2 above. The appropriate notice must be provided by October 15. Although the notice must be provided only to Medicare eligible individuals, the common practice is to send to all employees (even those not eligible for Medicare), in case they have a Medicare-eligible spouse or dependent.
- The notices attached are based on model notices issued by CMS, but we have made minor changes to the CMS models to make them more relevant to Liazon clients. Please note that Liazon is not a law firm and the attached notices are not legal recommendations from Liazon.
- Information that must be inserted is shown in red.
- CMS also requires that employers providing prescription drug coverage to Medicare-eligible individuals must report to CMS and inform CMS if such coverage is “creditable coverage” for purposes of MMA. This is required within 60 days after the beginning of each plan year. This reporting requirement is contained in the following link:
- https://www.cms.gov/CreditableCoverage/45_CCDisclosureForm.asp#TopOfPage
Additional Questions? Please call (518) 272-9866