Newsletter

When traveling outside the jurisdiction of the I.B.E.W. Local 697, you always want to make certain that the other Local is correctly and timely reciprocating the employer benefit contributions back to your home Local. One of the two quickest and easiest ways to verify if that Local is reciprocating back these contributions is to check to see if the new retirement calculator module reflects those contributions.

Where’s Their App?
(Sung to the tune of Silver Bells)
You are sneezing, cough unheeding
But to work you must go
In the air there’s a feeling of sickness
Nose is running, fever rising
And in the back of your mind you hear

Where’s their number, where’s their app?
I need relief rather asap
Where’s their number, where’s their app?
I am at work and I feel like crap

Feeling clammy, in your jammies
Coughing up mucus all night
And your spouse makes a call to your doctor
No appointments, there’s no appointments
And in the back of your mind you hear.

FUN FACT

The VA (Veterans Administration) pays forty percent (40%) less for pharmaceutical drugs than what Medicare pays, commercial insurance carriers pay, or what your Health and Benefit Plan pays for the same drugs.

NOT SO FUN FACT

Federal law specifically prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices or creating its own formulary.

Did you know that incomplete or inaccurate information can make it difficult for us to find your beneficiaries?

To help ensure that your beneficiaries receive your survivor benefits, it’s important that we have complete information on file to locate them at all times.

Everything comes to an end. Some endings can be pretty bittersweet. Consider last call at your favorite local dive bar, that last slice of pizza in the box, or maybe, the hour bank and MRP program coming to an end last October.

Didn’t know that? Okay, I’m just going to point out here how very sad that is to us.

Notice Requirement. The Department of Defense strongly recommends that reservists provide notice to their civilian employers and Union Benefit Offices at least 30 days prior to departure for uniformed service. With that said, the Benefit Fund Office of the I.B.E.W. Local 697 understands that this is not always feasible to do.

More accessible, Convenient Healthcare for You and Your Family. Too busy to take the time to see a doctor? Does the urgent care center have inconvenient hours? According to one survey, one in two adult Americans (51 percent) have trouble finding suitable healthcare options on nights and weekends, leaving the local emergency room as the only option if care is needed in these particular times.

Because you and your family deserve to be associated with the most qualified doctor. The simple fact is that not all doctors are experienced or deliver quality care. Sad, but nevertheless true. What is also factual is that there are risks and costs associated with receiving substandard care.

Effective July 1, 2019, the Health and Benefit Plan will no longer exclude out-of-network facilities and physician for the following well-ness exams:

Bone Density,
Cardiac Risk Assessments,
Cervical Exams,
Colorectal Cancer,
Diabetic Assessments,
Immunizations, Mammograms,
Pap Tests,
Physicals,
PSA (Prostate Cancer Tests)

As with all treatments performed in an out of network facility or performed by an out-of-network physician, payment for services received will be paid at the rate of 70% of 130% of the Medicare allowance.

Effective July 1, 2019, supplemental unemployment benefit fund balances of existing retirees or new retirees going forward will automatically be transferred into their HRA accounts.

Additionally, as some retirees could have a full HRA account, as well as a full SUB Fund account, the Trustees have voted to increase the HRA limit for retirees from $17,000.00 to $25,000.00.

For example, if a member had $8,000 in his or her S.U.B. Fund and had a full HRA account ($17,000.00) upon his or her retirement, the Plan would transfer over to this participants HRA account the $8,000.00. The new combined total of that retiree’s HRA account would then be $25,000.00.

Example #2: If upon retirement a member had $1,600.00 in his or her S.U.B. Fund account and $9,800.00 dollars in their HRA account, their S.U.B. Fund balance of $1,600.00 would be transferred to their HRA account which would subsequently total $11,400.00.

How does the transfer of the balance help a retiree?

Under the provisions of the S.U.B. Fund, retirees can only utilize S.U.B. Fund balances to offset self-payment premiums to the Health and Benefit Plan.