APWU High Option members should check their inbox for instructions on how to take advantage of the new 90-day prescription drug benefit available at in-network Smart90 retail pharmacies. If you did not receive the email please check your spam folder. You can update your email address contact with us  by calling 1-800-222-APWU.

Attention High Option Members: New Smart90 Program

High Option members may now obtain (non-specialty) maintenance drugs at an in-network Smart90 retail pharmacy (CVS or Walgreens). If you are already using mail order and would like to start filling your prescriptions at CVS or Walgreens, you will need a new 90-day prescription. You cannot transfer your existing mail order prescription to the retail pharmacy.

For more information on Smart90, call Express Scripts at 800-841-2734.

The APWU Health Plan has created a pamphlet to answer this difficult reader question. Download the pamphlet as a pdf file using this link (pamphlet apwu hp.)

We are thrilled and excited for the APWU Health Plan hosting 2019’s seminar in the Great Pacific Northwest.

Watch your mailbox for our 34^th Annual Open Season Seminar Save the Date postcard. If you would like to be added to our mailing list for future mailing please contact John’s Executive Assistant Kimberly at (kbeauvais@apwuhp.com). For additional information visit us at www.apwuhp.com/events.

As the year draws to a close, I want to take the opportunity to express our gratitude for your membership in the APWU Health Plan. We strive to provide quality, affordable healthcare for all of our members. You, the Health Plan Member, are the reason for everything we do. So on behalf of the over 225 employees at the APWU Health Plan we wish you a blessed holiday season filled with family and friends.

Please be aware that in conjunction with the Federal Holiday closures, the APWU Health Plan offices will be closed on December 24 and 25, 2018.

Dear Health Plan Representatives,

The APWU Health Plan is offering a new dental insurance plan! In response to feedback from our membership, we are now offering two affordable plan options. Full details about the plan are available on our website at www.apwuhp.com. Just click the link in the blue box.

Copies of this dental brochure are on the way. Our union printer will mail them directly to your local office. Please inform your Local, State and Retiree chapter leadership that they should expect these brochures soon. This is another resource to support their union-owned Health Plan.

To ensure that our members have an opportunity to enroll in this comprehensive plan the Open Season deadline for the APWU Health Plan Dental has been extended to December 20, 2018. This deadline extension is exclusively for the APWU Health Plan Dental and does not apply to other medical or dental plans.

In friendship and solidarity,
John L. Marcotte

Dear Health Plan Representatives,

The delegates assembled at the 2018 National Convention took action on a resolution from Michigan, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana Postal Worker Unions, NEB # 5. The delegates approved the NEB’s recommendation that considering concerns with the execution and accountability of NEB #5 as written recommended a substitute. In lieu of NEB #5, the delegates directed Secretary-Treasurer Liz Powell and Health Plan Director John L. Marcotte to meet and arrive at a recommendation in the spirit of this resolution within 90 days for presentation to the NEB.

Several in person and phone discussions were made by Sister Powell and myself to arrive at a recommendation that satisfies the NEB committee concerns with the resolution as written within the directed 90 days. This was reported to the HPR’s at our seminar in San Antonio.

I am pleased to inform you the National Executive Board has approved the below recommendation for cash payments and incentives to Local, State and Retiree Chapter organizations.

Please inform your Local, State and Retiree chapter leadership of this wonderful support of their Health Plan efforts by the National Executive Board.

In friendship and solidarity,

John L. Marcotte

Aware of the increasing magnitude of these tragic wildfires, the APWU Health Plan is taking a proactive approach to provide support and help ease the burden of our Health Plan members.

The APWU Health Plan has altered the benefits for any Health Plan member that has been or are currently being impacted by the wildfires in the affected zip code areas of Butte, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties in California. The affected area and time frame will be extended as conditions warrant. The following accommodations will be provided to members in the High Option and Consumer Driven Option who reside in the affected zip codes no matter where services are rendered from 11/9/18 through 12/9/18:

• All member claims will be paid as in-network regardless of the provider’s network status.
• The Health Plan will waive precertification requirements for all in-patient admissions (medical). Beacon Health Options will use maximum flexibility in approving requests for inpatient mental health services.
• Telephonic counseling will be available for all affected membership; members should call Beacon Health Options at 888-700-7965 to speak to a
• Extensive provisions have been made with your pharmacy administrator so that members can obtain their prescriptions for both retail and mail order. For assistance with prescriptions, High Option members should call Express Scripts at 800-841-2734 and Consumer Driven Option members should contact Optum RX at 800-718-1299. The following exceptions will be made:
  • 30 day supply or refills can be obtained at a network retail pharmacy
  • Refills can be obtained before the refill date for members that have lost their prescription
  • Paper claims submitted by affected members will be identified and processed at the normal retail copay
• Mail orders of narcotics and temperature-sensitive medications for impacted areas will be held; members should contact their pharmacy administrator to discuss alternative delivery options to ensure safe and accurate delivery
• Mail orders can be shipped to a temporary alternate address by calling your pharmacy administrator
• If a member is unable to receive their order by mail it can be transferred to a retail pharmacy for dispensing by calling your pharmacy administrator
• Orders that have already been shipped can be reprocessed. Up to a seven-day supply obtained through a retail pharmacy at no cost to the member; members should visit a retail pharmacy to obtain the order or refill

In response to Hurricane Michael, the APWU Health Plan is taking a compassionate proactive approach to provide support and help ease the burden of our Health Plan members.

The APWU Health Plan has altered the benefits for any Health Plan member that resides in the affected areas of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The affected area and time frame will be extended as conditions warrant. The following accommodations will be provided to members in the High Option and Consumer Driven Option from October 10, 2018 through November 09, 2018:

• All member claims will be paid as in-network regardless of the provider’s network status.
• The Health Plan will waive precertification requirements for all in-patient admissions (medical).Beacon Health Options will use maximum flexibility in approving requests for inpatient mental health services.
• Telephonic counseling will be available for all affected membership; members should call Beacon Health Options at 888-700-7965 to speak to a representative.
• Extensive provisions have been made with your pharmacy administrator so that members can obtain their prescriptions for both retail and mail order. For assistance with prescriptions, High Option members should call Express Scripts at 800-841-2734 and Consumer Driven Option members should contact Optum RX at 800-718-1299. The following exceptions will be made:
• 30 day supply or refills can be obtained at a network retail pharmacy
• Refills can be obtained before the refill date for members that have lost their prescription
• Paper claims submitted by affected members will be identified and processed at the normal retail copay
• Mail orders of narcotics and temperature-sensitive medications for impacted areas will be held; members should contact their pharmacy administrator to discuss alternative delivery options to ensure safe and accurate delivery
• Mail orders can be shipped to a temporary alternate address by calling your pharmacy administrator
• If a member is unable to receive their order by mail it can be transferred to a retail pharmacy for dispensing by calling your pharmacy administrator
• Orders that have already been shipped can be reprocessed. Up to a seven-day supply obtained through a retail pharmacy at no cost to the member; members should visit a retail pharmacy to obtain the order or refill

The amount that our members will pay for health insurance went up more than was necessary had a tax break not been given to large underwritten insurance companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS). APWUHP is a self-insured health plan.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) placed a tax on these underwritten carriers including BCBS that is used to pay for subsidies given to lower income Americans so they can afford health insurance. Congress waived this corporate tax for one year giving them a financial windfall that allowed them to not raise premiums that health care inflation would have otherwise required.

The amount the USPS will pay for our members health care is capped in the CBA, currently 76% of the weighted average of FEHB premiums. The weighted average is the total premiums for all FEHB plans multiplied by the number of subscribers in that plan. Any amount of premiums above this cap is paid 100% by the employee and the USPS pays nothing.

Flush with cash from congressional tax relief, underwritten carriers who insure approximately 85% of FEHB participants raised premiums less than health care cost inflation. Self-insured plans like APWUHP did not receive tax relief.

This caused the FEHB weighted average to rise at an extremely low amount not seen in 20 years. Thus pushing APWU Health Plans above the cap and forcing the portion of premiums that would have been paid by the USPS to be borne by the membership.

Download the Presidents Conference October 2018  presentation.

The APWU Health Plan coordinates payments to your medical provider with Medicare. This means that when the medical provider (doctor/hospital/lab) bills Medicare, the APWU obtains all the information we need to pay the bill directly from Medicare.  This streamlines the billing process for doctor’s offices. It ensures that insurance enrollees receive their maximum insurance benefits without filing additional paperwork.

Remember that for APWUHP Enrollees who are retired and have Medicare B, you pay nothing for Medicare covered procedures. 

The law requires the APWU Health plan base our payment for services at the “Medicare approved amount” regardless of whether or not our members over 65 are enrolled in Medicare.  This law is in place to keep Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) costs low and plan premiums affordable for retirees. The law applies to all FEHB plans not just the APWU Health Plan.

You can read more about how our plan works with Medicare in our Blueprint to Medicare Flyer.