Watch for April 1 Medical Plan SMMs

Starting March 31, cooperatives will receive a Message Center notification linking to the quarterly NRECA Medical Plan summary of material modifications (SMM). These SMMs are effective April 1, 2023. They must be given to plan participants no later than June 1, 2023.

Co-ops will receive one SMM for each NRECA Medical Plan they offer. Give the SMMs to current plan participants and acknowledge distribution by June 1, 2023. Also, give the SMMs to new plan participants with the appropriate summary plan description (SPD). COBRA plan participants, retirees, surviving dependents and any children under a qualified medical child support order who do not reside with your employee must receive their own copy.

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 April 1, 2023. An article in the February 22, 2023 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.
• NRECA’s waiver of Teladoc Health cost shares between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024 for general medical consultations for high-deductible health plan (HDHP)-covered participants and mental health consultations for participants in HDHPs and traditional PPO plans.
• Removal of the CVS formulary from Appendices C, D, and E (as applicable) of the NRECA Medical Plan SPD. This change greatly reduces the number of pages that must be reproduced and distributed by co-ops that choose the paper distribution method. All drug lists that make up the formulary are available on the Prescription Drug page of the NRECA Employee Benefits website. Participants may request a printed copy at no cost through NRECA’s Member Contact Center.

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. As the final step of your distribution process, please acknowledge distributing your SMMs right away.

Participants with questions about prescription drug coverage 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.