AFSCME Local 2960» Benefit

Health Insurance Update

Debra Novak-Scott — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:11:37 +0000

At the August 19th, 2010 Health Care Task Force the committee members voted to have the city’s pharmaceutical provider Caremark offer Retail 90 to people who are enrolled in the program. The program should be implemented within thirty to sixty days. What this means is that anyone enrolled in the City’s plan with Caremark can go to any retail outlet that accepts Caremark and receive a ninety day supply of maintenance prescriptions. The cost would be three times the monthly cost based on whether the prescription is generic, formulary, or non-formulary. There are currently 65,000 pharmacies that accept Caremark.

The Health Care task force is constantly looking for ways to offer savings to the employees. These are just some suggestions that can help one a monthly basis that you may want to check out.

Walgreens offers a prescriptions savings club for $20 for one person or $35 for a family, per year.

(Family includes spouse, dependents under 23 years of age and pets.)
They offer more than 5000 brand name and generic medicines at a deep discount.
Instead of a $10 co-pay for a 30 day supply of medicine, if your medicine is available through the club, you could pay as little as $12 for a ninety day supply. (Check if your prescription medication is covered under the plan at their website.)
There are no age limits or health restrictions.
The card can be used at any Walgreen’s nationwide.
The plan also offers other benefits such as 10% off Walgreen’s brand products.

Costco also offers a discount on co-pays.

Costco members could pay as little as $5.99 for a thirty day supply of medicine instead of the normal $10 co-pay for generic medications.
Details of the plan can be found at the following Envision RX information page.

Paperless paychecks begin on July 2nd

Steve Ryan — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:51:26 +0000

Beginning on July 2nd, the city payroll staff will no longer be issuing paper forms of your paycheck direct deposit statements. Instead, city employees will be asked to rely on the electronic statements found on e-CHRIS to serve as notifications of a successful deposit.

As a cost saving measure, the city is expected to save close to a million dollars annually in printing costs, paper and the cost of fuel for delivery to the various departments city wide.

For those with direct deposit, the information available on your pay stub is exactly the same information as your paycheck report in e-CHRIS. The format is similar to what you are used to seeing as well. Plus, e-CHRIS has the added benefit of instant access to every paycheck issued to you over the last several years.

If you currently receive a live paycheck (no direct deposit), your paycheck will be mailed on payday Fridays from City Payroll to the mailing address you have on file with e-CHRIS. City employees are encouraged to verify the mailing address currently on file with the city by logging into e-CHRIS and selecting Home and Mailing Address from the Personal Information tab of the main navigation screen.

Employees wishing to change from a live paycheck to direct deposit may also make this change in e-CHRIS. Please take the time to verify your banking information before saving. Pre-notifications are no longer made to the banking industry, and your selection will be automatically deposited to the requested account on the next available payday.

If you need help with e-CHRIS, with setting up your direct deposit or viewing/printing your pay check online, please contact the e-CHRIS helpline at 602-534-4357, or contact your local payroll clerk.

City announces “holiday” from health care premimums

Steve Ryan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:30:14 +0000

The following excerpted announcement was made today via city email. It is applicable to all city employees who pay health insurance benefits.

A medical coverage premium holiday will take place during April 2010 for employees and retirees. This premium holiday keeps medical coverage in full force while saving employees, retirees and the City premium costs for one month.

How is this premium holiday possible? The self-funded health insurance program implemented by the city in 2005 has resulted in medical and prescription drug costs that are somewhat lower than the cost trends that were originally projected. While this is the second year in which a premium holiday has been deemed possible, it is not anticipated that a premium holiday will occur annually. The decision to provide a premium holiday is preceded by careful analysis of the Health Care Benefits Trust’s performance, input from the Health Care Task Force, and recommendation by the Health Care Benefits Trust Board.

Active employees with City health coverage will not see the usual premium deduction from their April 9th and April 23rd paychecks. If you are wondering what your current premium deduction amount is, you can find it on your check stub in the Before-Tax Deductions section next to “BCBS PPO,” “BCBS HMO,” or “CIGNA HMO”. Please note that premium deductions are usually taken on a pre-tax basis which means the increase to your net pay on April 9th and 23rd will be less than the deduction amount. This is because the pre-tax deduction will, instead, be taxable income on your April 2010 paychecks.

This can be viewed online using e-CHRIS Self-Service.

From the city intranet, in Self-Service go to Payroll and Compensation -> View Paycheck->Before Tax Deductions.
From an outside computer, you may access e-CHRIS at http://phoenix.gov/phxechris.html

Employees affected by lay-off are included in the premium holiday if they have city health coverage. The city health coverage they have in place on their last day worked will be extended through April 2010 at no cost to the employee.

Please contact the Benefits Office with questions at 602-262-4777 or benefits.questions@phoenix.gov.

FMLA Rights of Union Members

Steve Ryan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:15:41 +0000

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) guarantees important rights to private and public sector employees. You are eligible for FMLA leave if you:

Work for an employee that has 50 or more employees
Have been employed for at least 12 months
Have worked 1250 or more hours in the previous 12 months, and
Work where at least 50 employees are employed within 75 miles.

Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave over a 12 month period to:

recover from a serious health condition (medical leave)
care for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition (family-care leave)
care for or bond with a newborn, adopted, or foster child (child-care leave)

You may take medical and family-care leave on an intermittent basis. If you work five days per week, you may take up to 60 individual days. You can also take FMLA leave on a reduced schedule basis. For example, you may work part time after an operation.

Other features of FMLA include:

Leave may not be delayed of denied because your employer is in a busy period.
You may be asked to submit a medical certification from a health care provider.
If your need for leave is foreseeable, you must provide advance notice of 30 days when possible.
After your leave, you must be returned to the same or a substantially equivalent position.
Your employer may not take adverse measures against you because of FMLA absences.

FMLA violations should be reported to your union representative. Feel free to contact us if you have questions or concerns about how to use this benefit.

City Transit Bus Cards

Steve Ryan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:14:24 +0000

Just a reminder – the city is now monitoring the usage of the employee transit cards. At least one NOI was issued for misuse of the card. Each employee who received this benefit had to sign a statement acknowledging proper use of the card. Additionally, on the back of the card it states

“Conditions of use: Card is non-transferable. May be confiscated for misuse… Passengers without proof of fare payment or with an expired card may be issued a citation.”

Police Transit is confiscating the cards and notifying the employee’s department. The departments then issue the NOI’s. At this point, the disciplinary measure to be taken is undetermined, or if the City will choose to charge the employee with theft.