Medical Plan SMMs Available October 1

If your cooperative offers one of the NRECA medical plans, you will receive a Message Center notification early the week of September 30 directing you to the quarterly medical plan summary of material modifications (SMM). Deliver the SMM to current plan participants and acknowledge distribution as soon as possible, but not later than December 1, 2019. Also, give the SMM to new plan participants along with the medical plan summary plan description (SPD).

The SMM reflects changes to the NRECA Medical Plan’s Performance Drug list made by CVS Caremark, NRECA’s pharmacy benefit manager, that are effective October 1, 2019. An article in the August 28, 2019 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, REA number and subgroup number on the SMM before distributing it to employees.

Visit the Employee Benefits website to review the electronic distribution rules. 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.

For additional questions
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 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.