The Seafarers Health and Benefits Plan (SHBP) will conduct conferences at SIU halls beginning early next year to update members and their families on the latest happenings with the various Plans.SHBP Administrator Bill Dennis said the conference dates will be firmed up some time this month; they’ll be published in the December issue of the Seafarers LOG and also will be made available at the halls and on the union’s web site (www.seafarers.org).
Information on all of the Seafarers Plans will be available at the conferences. Seafarers, pensioners and family members are encouraged to attend.
“I’m very confident that the benefits conferences will be worthwhile for all who attend,” Dennis stated. “Plans representatives will present plenty of information and of course will welcome questions from Seafarers and their dependents. If we can’t immediately answer a question, we’ll write it down and get the answer back to the member or dependent right away.”
Two of the more prominent topics at the conferences will be the SHBP’s recent affiliations with First Health Network and (separately) Prescription Solutions.
As previously reported, the First Health Network agreement took effect Nov. 1. By utilizing First Health, the SHBP is helping to eliminate applicable out-of-pocket costs for Seafarers. Additionally, one of the biggest expected advantages is that Seafarers using the network no longer will have to worry about doctors’ charges exceeding the “reasonable and customary” coverage limit, since the network and its participating physicians agree to a set fee schedule.
More than 4,500 hospitals and some 425,000 physicians and ancillary providers participate in First Health Network. According to the company, 99 percent of hospitals and 96 percent of physicians and ancillary providers normally renew their respective contracts with the network.
A quick visit to First Health’s web site (www.firsthealth.com, login ID SHBP) backed up the company’s status as a large network, giving Plan participants plenty of choices. A search for participating clinics and physicians within 20 miles of the SIU’s Algonac, Mich. hall returned 984 matches. A search for providers located within 5 miles of the Baltimore hall yielded 2,674 matches. Large numbers also were the norm for searches within 5 miles of the halls in Boston (8,850 participants), Houston (3,794), Honolulu (560), Jacksonville (1,069), New Orleans (937), New York (4,315), Norfolk (804), San Francisco (2,847), Tacoma (1,056), Wilmington (1,116) and others.
At the start of 2004, the SHBP entered into an agreement with Prescription Solutions, a national pharmacy management company, to provide pharmacy benefits to all eligible participants.
Under this agreement, the cost of prescribed drugs has been greatly reduced, resulting in a savings to the Plan and to participants. Eligible members and dependents participating at Plan Level G pay only small co-payments for certain prescribed name brand drugs. In addition, maintenance drugs are available without a co-pay when a participant uses the mail-order system.
The program provides coverage for new as well as refill prescriptions filled at participating retail pharmacies and through the Prescription Solutions Mail Services Pharmacy. To use the program, members present their Prescription Solutions ID cards to any participating pharmacy.
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