2023 Health Trust Annual Reporting Meetings – Coming Soon!

The Health Trust will hold its Annual Reporting Meetings early this fall. These meetings provide the Health Trust staff with an opportunity to report on program operations, finances and activities, and allow members an opportunity to raise questions or concerns.

Members may participate in the Annual Reporting Meetings on one of the following dates:

Thursday, October 5 from 1:15 – 2:30 at the MMA Convention in Augusta

Wednesday, October 11 from 9:00 10:00 a.m. via Zoom

Tuesday, October 17 from 2:00 3:00 p.m. via Zoom

 

Click here to register

 

If you are registering for one of the meetings being held via Zoom, you will receive confirmation via e- mail with the information necessary to participate in the Zoom meeting. No registration is required if you plan to join us at the session being held in conjunction with the MMA Convention, however you must be registered to attend the convention.

If you have any questions regarding the Health Trust Annual Reporting Meetings, please  e-mail  Kristy  Gould,  Director  of  Health  Trust Services, at kgould@memun.org or Lisa Rigoulot, Assistant Director of Health Trust Services, at lrigoulot@memun.org.

Please note that the Annual Reporting Meeting is different than the Workshops designed specifically for Health Trust Retirees, which historically are held annually in the fall. These meetings will not be held in 2023. Updates will be distributed to retirees via mail in the fall. Please visit the Health Trust website for information about medical coverage for retirees at https://www.mmeht.org/medical-plans/retiree-group-companion- plan/ or you may call the Health Trust at 1-800-852-8300.

Health Trust Board Candidates Wanted

Are you interested in serving as a Trustee for the Maine Municipal Employees Health Trust? If so, the Health Trust’s Selection Committee would like to hear from you. There is an anticipated vacancy on the Health Trust Board, for a term that begins January 1, 2024.  Interviews will be held for the vacancy in early fall.

An eleven-member Board governs the Health Trust, and oversees its health, dental, short and long-term disability, vision and life insurance plans. The Board typically meets five times a year for half day meetings, with a two-day strategic planning meeting in the summer. Trustees are also expected to serve on one of the Trust’s standing committees that require additional meetings throughout the year.

Read More

Anthem and Covenant Health

Covenant Health, which operates St. Joseph’s hospital in Bangor and St. Mary’s hospital in Lewiston, has been negotiating a new contract with Anthem.  Covenant stated in early May that unless an agreement can be reached, they will remove their physicians, providers, and other facilities in Maine from the Anthem provider network, effective July 5, 2023.

While negotiations are ongoing, no agreement has been reached at this time.  We are hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon, but we are ready to assist members when and if these providers and facilities leave the Anthem network. 

The Health Trust is concerned about the potential lack of access to these established providers and hospitals, and we understand that members may be anxious about disruption with their current providers.  However, we also recognize that there is a balance to be maintained in order to control the costs of healthcare.  Covenant has asked for very large increases in the amounts they are paid for services provided, and these costs are shared by all Health Trust members.

Anthem has created a website to share updated information about this matter at https://www.anthem.com/covenantmaine/.

In early May, Anthem sent out letters to all members who utilized a Covenant Health provider within the past 12 months.  Members on a Health Trust POS plan who currently see a Covenant Health primary care physician (PCP) will also be receiving letters shortly assigning them to another, non-Covenant provider and subsequently a new ID card listing the new PCP.   If you receive a letter and would like to change your PCP to another in-network provider, please contact Member Services for assistance with this process. Please note that members on a Health Trust PPO plan are not required to have a PCP under their plan and therefore will not receive a letter assigning them to another non-Covenant PCP. However, if you continue to see a Covenant Health PCP after July 5, 2023, your benefits will be paid at the out-of-network level.

Under the Continuity of Care provisions, you may also be able to continue treatment with your current doctor(s) for a limited time past July 4th, if you are receiving certain types of care.

Under federal law, this includes care if you are:

  • In treatment for a serious and complex condition. This can be a sudden (acute) illness that requires specialized treatment in order to avoid death or permanent harm. It can also be an ongoing (chronic) illness that is life threatening or potentially disabling and requires specialized care over a long period of time.
  • In a hospital or other inpatient facility.
  • Scheduled for nonelective surgery by your current doctor, including your post-operative care for the surgery.
  • Pregnant.
  • Terminally ill.

Continuity of Care Application Form

Please contact MMEHT Member Services so that we can assist you with the Continuity of Care process, or with finding a new in-network provider if you so choose.  Member Service Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at 1-800-852-8300.

Anthem and Covenant Health

Covenant Health, which operates St. Joseph’s hospital in Bangor and St. Mary’s hospital in Lewiston, has been negotiating a new contact with Anthem.  Covenant has recently stated that unless an agreement can be reached, they will remove their physicians, providers, and other facilities in Maine from the Anthem provider network, effective July 5, 2023.

The Health Trust is concerned about the potential lack of access to these established providers and hospitals, and we understand that members may be anxious about disruption with their current providers.  However, we also recognize that there is a balance to be maintained in order to control the costs of healthcare.  Covenant has asked for very large increases in the amounts they are paid for services provided.

Read More

Happy 40th Birthday to the Health Trust!

The Maine Municipal Employees Health Trust was founded in 1983 with the goal of containing healthcare costs while maintaining quality benefit programs and providing superior services. For forty years it has been our pleasure to serve municipal and quasi-municipal employees, retirees and their dependents.

Read More

Forms 1095-B will be arriving soon

As required by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Trust will be sending out Forms 1095-B to all employees (including non-Medicare retirees and COBRA participants) who were covered under a Health Trust health plan during calendar year 2022. The 1095-B forms provide information on each individual (employee and dependents) who had health coverage through the Trust in 2022, including which months they were covered. Forms were mailed in mid-February, prior to the March 2, 2023 deadline.

The 1095-B forms provide information that may assist you in preparing your taxes, however they do not need to be filed with the tax returns. The IRS has stated that taxpayers need not wait for these forms, and should file their returns as they normally would. Copies of all of the forms will be filed with the IRS by the Health Trust, through its eligibility vendor.

If you have any questions about your Form 1095-B, please contact the Billing & Enrollment staff at 1-800-452-8786, or htbilling@memun.com.

New Diabetes Prevention Program

We are pleased to offer the Lark Diabetes Prevention Program as of January 1, 2023. This smartphone-based program is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and is based on their well-known Prevent T2 curriculum.

Lark is a personalized digital health coaching that provides education, resources, and support to members at risk for diabetes, accessed through the Anthem Sydney Health app. Eligible members receive a free wireless smart scale upon enrollment.

You can engage in the program at your own pace. It provides digital weight loss support, nutrition therapy with customized feedback through daily check-ins, and customized guidance on sleep and physical activity.

Lark Diabetes Prevention Program Flier

IngenioRx name change

In June Anthem, Inc., the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Maine, changed their name to
Elevance Health and created Carelon, a new healthcare services brand. Anthem Maine will continue to use
their current name.

Effective January 1, 2023, Anthem Maine’s pharmacy benefit manager IngenioRx will join the Carelon
company and change its name to CarelonRx. As a result of this change, IngenioRx Home Delivery Pharmacy
will become CarelonRx Mail and IngenioRx Specialty Pharmacy will become CarelonRx Specialty
Pharmacy. This name change will have no impact on members’ benefits, coverage or how they fill their
prescriptions. Members using the home delivery and specialty pharmacies have been receiving updates on
this change for the past few months, and after January 1 will receive an insert in their first prescription filled
by either of these pharmacies noting the details of the new branding.

Annual Benefits Open Enrollment

The Health Trust’s Open Enrollment period will begin on November 15, 2022, and end on December 15, 2022, for a coverage effective date of January 1, 2023. Enrollment/Change Forms must be received by the Health Trust by December 15.  If no changes are being made to coverage, no forms are required.

Read More

SBCs and Summary Documents for 2023 Now Available

Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act, employers must provide employees with a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) which follows a standard format prescribed by the federal government.  This document should be distributed to all benefits-eligible employees prior to the beginning of the plan’s open enrollment period each year.

The Health Trust’s open enrollment period will begin on November 15, 2022, and end on December 15, 2022, for a coverage effective date of January 1, 2023.  This means that SBCs must be distributed to all current benefits-eligible employees before November 15, in order to comply with the law.  SBCs must also be provided to any new benefits-eligible employees, so that they are able to review and compare benefits for any health plan(s) in which they are eligible to enroll.

Read More
1 2 3 5

Search

+