New NRECA Medical Plan SMMs Effective July 1 – NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly

If your cooperative offers the NRECA Medical Plan, you will receive a Message Center notification on June 30 directing you to the quarterly medical plan summary of material modifications (SMM) that takes effect on July 1, 2021.

Give the SMM to current plan participants and acknowledge distribution as soon as possible, but no later than August 1, 2021. Also, give the SMM to new plan participants along with the medical plan summary plan description (SPD). COBRA plan participants, retirees, surviving dependents and any children under a qualified medical child support order must also receive their own copy if they do not reside with your employee.

This SMM reflects changes to the NRECA Medical Plan’s Performance Drug list made by CVS Caremark, NRECA’s pharmacy benefit manager, that are effective July 1, 2021. An article in the May 26, 2021 issue of NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly listed the changes. The current Performance Drug List is available to participants on the Checking Coverage page of the NRECA Employee Benefits website.

Distribution instructions
Enter your co-op’s name and REA/subgroup number on the SMM before distributing it to employees. Also, review the standing distribution guidelines on the BA Guide to find instructions for acceptable distribution methods. Temporary electronic distribution guidelines are available if your co-op’s operations have been affected by the COVID-19 national emergency. See the COVID-19 Information & Resources page of the BA Guide for more information. Please acknowledge distributing your SMMs right away (as the final step of your distribution process if possible).

Participants with questions about prescription drug coverage or about these changes can call CVS Caremark Customer Care at 888.796.7322. If you have questions about downloading or accessing your SMMs, call the Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 or email contactcenter@nreca.coop. For all other SMM questions, call the benefits compliance team at 866.673.2299, option 7, or email group.compliance@nreca.coop.