Supplemental Medical Plan SMMs Available April 1 – NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly

If your cooperative offers one of the NRECA Medical Plans, within the next week you will receive a Message Center notification directing you to a new summary of material modifications (SMM) for your plan. Deliver the SMM to current plan participants and acknowledge distribution by May 1, 2019. Also, give the SMM to new plan participants at the same time you provide the medical summary plan description (SPD).

SMM Contents
This SMM reflects formulary changes, effective April 1, 2019, made by CVS Caremark (the plan’s pharmacy benefit manager). Certain products were added or deleted from the lists, moved to different tiers, or made subject to quantity limits. The February 27, 2019 Employee Benefits Weekly announced these changes.

Questions
Participants can visit the Prescription Drug page on the NRECA Employee Benefits website to view the most current version of the Performance Drug List. For drugs not on the Performance Drug List, participants can visit the Manage Your Prescriptions page to check drug coverage and cost. These lists will reflect the changes starting April 1, 2019.

Distribution Instructions
On April 1, the SMM will be available in your document library on the Employee Benefits website. Before distributing it to employees, enter your co-op’s name, REA and subgroup number.

Frequently asked questions and full details about how to distribute these SMMs, who must receive them and acceptable distribution methods is available on the Employee Benefits website. Visit this page before choosing an electronic distribution method. Department of Labor regulations allow employers to give out SMMs electronically (usually via email) only to certain employees who can access the documents through computers that are an integral part of their work duties. Participants who do not meet these criteria (for example, a line worker or meter readers who may not have a computer or laptop) must receive paper copies.

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