With 90% of members casting ballots, the tentative agreement and the insurance changes have been approved. Information on when you will see the changes to your insurance premium payments and retroactive pay (if appropriate) will be posted here as soon as it is known.
Since the changes to messa include a $100 per person/$200 per family annual deductible (calendar year, starting January 2010), you may wish to increase your Medical Flex Account amount by either $100 or $200. The way a deductible works is that when you visit a doctor in January, the first $100 is paid by you, not by messa. Typically, you pay the office visit amount when you are there, and wait for the doctor to bill messa. Messa will deny payment, and your doctor will then bill you for the balance. You can then submit that doctor bill to Flex for reimbursement of the amount (including the co-pay you made at the time of the appointment).
The co-pay amount will also increase in January (when the policy changes take effect), so you might also want to increase your Flex amount by an approximation of co-pays for office visits for Jan. – Oct. of 2010.
Prescription coverage is not changed with the policy changes, so the amounts you have already calculated in your Flex account for prescription costs will not change.
As always, if you have questions about the contract and/or insurance, leave a comment on this page or send me an email.
PEA Information 