Well I hope you have had a better experience than I’ve had in re-enrolling for my ADOA Health Insurance options. If it weren’t for Larry Carlson, Connie and I might still be trying to log into the ADOA site using our old passwords. It turns out that it helps to read the ADOA booklet before proceeding to the ADOA website!

The following material includes items from the ASURA Open Enrollment Seminar prepared by Bev Buddee, two pages from the October AARA Bulletin, and hopefully some useful links. There are three parts to this E-news:

• Medicare
• ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment
• ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

Medicare

The ASURA 2018 Open Enrollment Health Care Seminar, held Thursday, October 26 at the Tempe History Museum, was well attended. Jerry Waterworth, Community Volunteer with the Community Educators Program at AARP Arizona, spoke about the ABCD of Medicare.  He clearly explained the differences between Original/Traditional Medicare (Parts A and B) and Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare drug coverage (Part D).  He explained the need for medigap and drug coverage insurance with Original/Traditional Medicare.  Jerry also touched on eligibility, enrollment periods (initial, general, special and open) and assistance available through Medicare Savings Programs and/or low income subsidy.  Resources include:

• Social Security,
• Medicare,
• State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP),
• Area Agency on Aging, and
•  AARP and an AARP flow diagram to help with Medicare choices

ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

• Re-enrollment is mandatory if you don’t want to lose your coverage.
• Open enrollment is short and runs from October 30 to November 17.
• Logging into the ADOA website – For reasons not explained, ADOA changed everyone’s password to your four digit birth year plus the last four digits of your Social Security number. The login process is described very clearly on page 3 of the ADOA Benefits Enrollment Guide.
• The ADOA’s Benefit Services Division home page has a link for online re enrollment
• ADOA Benefits Enrollment Guide
• ADOA Calendar of Benefit Expo dates
• ASURA Seminar Material
  
  Elizabeth Schafer, Plan Administrator in the Benefits Services Division of the Arizona Department of Administration, informed the group that action is required to retain insurance coverage in 2018.  Open enrollment dates are October 30 through 5:00 p.m., November 17, 2017.  She urged retirees not to wait until the last minute to try to enroll in medical, dental and/or vision plans.  If you do not actively enroll, you will be dropped from your current coverage as of January 1, 2018.  The bad news is premiums are increasing and copays are increasing.  The good news is the plan changes also include providing preventive care with no copay.  This includes routine wellness exams, a wide range of screening tests, immunizations and preventive care medications.  Delta Dental will remain the PPO dental provider at the same rates and same coverage.  Medical carriers and coverage plans are staying the same; coverage for the vision and hearing aids benefits remains the same, and there is no impact to the health insurance subsidy from the Arizona State Retirement System.  Elizabeth said the open enrollment packets were in the mail and encouraged retirees to carefully review the information

ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

• Open enrollment for 2018 ASRS health insurance is all of November. Note: the ASRS open enrollment period is "passive", meaning that if you are already on an ASRS plan and are satisfied with your choices, you do not need to make an election
• You should visit the ASRS Open Enrollment page for complete information about open enrollment including links to a schedule of enrollment meetings and appropriate guides
• ASURA Seminar Material
  
  Julie Lockwood, Program Administrator, Member Services Division, at Arizona State Retirement System informed the group that open enrollment runs from Wednesday, November 1 through Thursday, November 30, 2017.  Coverage begins January 1, 2018.  This is a passive enrollment again, which means no action is required unless coverage changes are desired.  The ASRS mailing will include 3 items – a flyer containing information on enrollment, a newsletter with an overview of Open Enrollment, and a guidebook.  There are 2 guidebooks this year, one for non-Medicare eligible retirees and one for Medicare eligible retirees.  Retirees will receive the guidebook relevant to them.  Julie urged retirees to carefully review their respective guidebooks for changes and plan coverage comparisons. 
  
  Open Enrollment Seminars are being held throughout the state at which the individual insurance representatives make their formal presentations and answer specific questions.  The list of seminars is in the flyer included in the mailing or can be found on the ASRS Open Enrollment Information page.  This webpage contains a wealth of information, information videos, and links to assist in this open enrollment process.  Retirees are encouraged to browse the site.  ASRS members will review their current coverage, make changes to personal information, etc., by logging into their respective MyASRS account.

Barry McNeill, editor