VOL. 19, No. 1	DECATUR, ILLINOIS	April, 2003

What You Need to Do If You Are Called to
Military Service

With all that is going on in the world today, it is likely that some of our participants will be called to serve our country. It is important that you contact the Fund Office as soon as possible when you are called to military service. The Fund Office will explain how you can continue coverage for yourself and/or your dependents and will help you through the process. For more information, active participants can refer to page 14 of the 2003 Edition of your Summary Plan Description (SPD).

Increasing Plan Income

As health care costs and spending continue to increase, the Fund continues to look for ways to increase income to cover these costs. One way to do this is by increasing the contribution rate that employers pay for each hour that active employees work. Since employer contributions are the biggest source of income to the Fund, effective June 1, 2003, the hourly contribution rate will increase to $4.65 from $4.15.

Other sources of income to the Fund, used to pay health care expenses include self-payments made by retirees for coverage and COBRA coverage self-payments. The monthly self-pay rate for each type of coverage is based on the cost of providing that coverage. Unfortunately as the cost of health care increases, so does the cost of providing coverage.

Age of Retirement Retirement Before Jan. 1, 2002 Retirement on and After Jan. 1, 2002 Under Age 62  $712.00 $712.00 Age 62 to 65* $356.00 $534.00 Age 65 and Over $356.00 $462.80 Non-Medicare Disabled Or Surviving Spouse $534.00 $534.00 *When the Employee becomes eligible for Medicare, age 65 and over rate applies.

COBRA Coverage Self Pay Rates Increasing

Under certain circumstances, you may be eligible to continue coverage on a self-pay basis as required under federal law, referred to as COBRA coverage. Effective June 1, 2003, monthly self-pay rates for COBRA coverage are as follows.

Cobra Coverage Monthly Self-Pay Rates Effective June 1, 2003

Coverage New Rates Medical Only  $668 Medical and Vision $675 Medical and Dental $690 Medical, Dental and Vision $698

For more information about COBRA coverage, active participants can refer to pages 16-17 of the 2003 Edition of your SPD.

Comprehensive Major Medical Benefit Changes
Effective June 1, 2003

Because health care costs paid by the Plan continue to rise at levels beyond the amount of income to the Plan, including the increased income described previously, the Fund needed to make additional changes to try to bring health care spending in line with Fund income. Therefore, effective June 1, 2003, two changes will be made to the Fund’s comprehensive major medical program.

Annual Deductible Changing
This applies to all participants. However, since there is no deductible for in-network care provided in the state of Alabama, this does not apply to in-network services rendered in Alabama.

Each year (from January 1 through December 31), you are responsible for meeting the annual deductible before the Plan begins paying benefits. Effective June 1, 2003, the amount of annual deductible will be $500 per person up to a family maximum of $1500.

The amounts you pay toward the annual deductible are not included in the Plan’s annual out-of-pocket maximum. The new deductible amounts apply to all claims incurred on and after June 1, 2003. If you had met your annual deductible before June 1, 2003 you will be required to meet the additional annual deductible amount for any claim incurred after June 1, 2003.

For active participants, this change affects pages 3, 7, 8, 20 and 22 of the 2003 Edition of your SPD.

New Physician Office Visit Copayment
This applies to all participants except Alabama out-of-area participants and Medicare-eligible participants.

While the plan will continue to pay for physician office visits as you are used to, effective June 1, 2003 you will be required to pay a $10 copayment for each office visit before the Plan pays benefits. Please note that you do not pay this $10 copayment up front to your physician. Once a claim is submitted to the Fund Office, the Fund Office will deduct the $10 copayment from the amount that the Fund reimburses you.

This physician office visit copayment is in addition to any annual medical deductible and coinsurance amount you are responsible for paying.

Continuing Your Eligibility for Coverage

This applies to all bargaining unit employees.

Once you become eligible for coverage, your coverage continues on a month-to-month basis. Your continued eligibility is based on the number of hours you work each month. Effective June 1, 2003, if you are a bargaining unit participant, you must work at least 150 hours per month to continue your eligibility for coverage. Remember that even if you do not work the required number of hours in a month, you may still be able to continue your eligibility by using any hours of credit you have in your hour bank to make up the difference. Please note that the 840-hour maximum balance you may accumulate in your hour bank is not changing and the 420 hour requirement still applies for initial eligibility. Active employees, for more information see pages 10-15 of the 2003 Edition of your SPD.

Non bargaining employees will have the amount of bank hours they can accumulate reduced from 20 to 10 each month.

BlueCross BlueShield Network Available in Florida
And Alabama: A Reminder

As was previously announced, the Fund is pleased to offer participants in Florida and Alabama access to the BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) preferred provider network. Remember that when you use a network provider, you save money on your health care expenses because network providers have agreed to negotiated rates, which are generally less than their usual rates.

Reminder: All Beech Street network claims incurred before January 1, 2003 must be filed with the Fund Office by June 30, 2003. With BCBS replacing Beech Street as the Fund’s PPO network as of January 1, 2003, to receive the negotiated discounts on any Beech Street network provider services received before January 1st, you must submit your claim to the Fund Office by June 30, 2003. If you do not submit your claim before June 30th, your claim will be paid at the out-of-network level, which means you’ll end up paying more. So please get those claims in as soon as possible.

Retirees Needing Additional Information

When you have a question about your benefits, call the Fund Office. They can provide you with a Summary Plan Description (SPD) which summarizes the benefits available under the retiree program. In addition to this SPD, past issues of the newsletter contain any changes made to your benefits. Be sure to keep this information for future references.

Well Baby Care: A Reminder

Just a reminder that while the Plan covers well baby care, such care must occur during your child’s first 24 months of life to be considered a covered expense. For more information, active participants can refer to page 21 of the 2003 Edition of your SPD.

Mail Order Prescriptions

If you have any questions about the mail order prescription program with Merck Medco, call 1-800-711-0917. The Fund Office does not have the prescription forms. You must call Merck Medco direct for these forms or any questions you may have.

For those of you who have a computer, you can go online at www.medcohealth.com and print an order form. You can order refills online and check the status of your order.

April 14, 2003: New Privacy Rules Go Into Effect

A new federal law requires the Fund to ensure the privacy of your health information under the Fund. Under the Fund’s new privacy rules, effective April 14th, local union offices are no longer able to help you with any issues that involve private health information, as defined by federal law.

If you need assistance with any matter relating to your health care benefits, contact the Fund Office.

Over the past few years, the Trustees have had to make some very unpopular decisions. With the rate of medical costs going up anywhere from 12% to 20% and the prescription drugs rising 15% to 20% a year, the decisions, although hard to make, were necessary.

Along with the monetary changes listed, the Plan changes have a value of $.42 per hour. So in total, the changes along with the monetary increases total $1.42. At best this just keeps us at a break even amount. It adds nothing to fund our reserves.

The Trustees have mandated that the Fund Professionals along with the Fund Office continue to explore any and all methods to save the Fund money which would include a PPO Plan for Dental, a new Vision Plan, COBRA changes, as well as many others.

There seems to be no end in sight for cost increases. Legislation changes are needed, but government obviously has higher priorities at this date and more than likely for some time to come. We all need to talk to our legislators, both Federal and State. It is the only method we have to stop the increases.

This Newsletter contains only highlights of certain features of the NECA-IBEW Welfare Trust Fund. Full details are contained in the documents that establish the Plan provisions. If there is a discrepancy between the wording here and the documents that establish the Plan, the document language will govern. The Trustees reserve the right to amend, modify, or terminate the Plan at any time.