Please remember that the City’s 2010 Open Enrollment is scheduled for October 19, 2009 through October 30, 2009. During that time employees will be able to log on to the City’s benefits website at www.baltimorecity.essbenefits.com to make changes to coverage and to sign up for new plans. This year the City will hold three days of Benefit Health Fairs on October 22, 27 and 28, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the War Memorial Building. All of the City’s vendors will be present at the Benefits Fairs to provide valuable information and wellness services. The staff from the Employee Benefits Division (EBD) will also be available at the Benefits Fairs with computers to answer questions and assist any employee or retiree who needs help logging onto the online benefits enrollment system.

This year, the City is pleased to announce that two new Aetna health plans – an HMO and PPO plan – will be available for employees effective January 1, 2010. Both plans will be offered in addition to our current medical plans. An informational brochure about the new Aetna plans will be mailed to each employee’s home address of record with the City. For the most part, the Aetna plan design and copays will be the same as the City’s other medical plans. (Attached is a copy of the 2010 Medical Plan Comparison chart. Copies of the chart will be available to all active employees on the Benefits website beginning October 19, 2009).

Employees should review the Aetna material. Enrollment in an Aetna plan will offer the following:

• A network of nearly 5,000 hospitals and 874,000 medical providers currently serving over 17 million members;
• A broad network of providers in MD, DC, PA and DE including over 21,000 primary care physicians, 55,000 specialists and all major acute care hospitals;
• DocFind®, Aetna’s online provider directory is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even before you become an Aetna member. Simply log on to www.aetna.com and follow the on-screen directions to find a doctor or other health care provider;
• The Aetna Navigator® self-service member website, featuring information on your personal benefits. This secure connection lets you view information about who is covered in your plan, check the status of a claim, review an explanation of benefits, get the phone number for or communicate with Member Services with benefits questions. Other tools enable you to make more informed health decisions by helping to determine average costs of health care services in your area like medical treatments, office visits, medical tests and more. You can even take a survey to rate medical professionals in Aetna’s network;
• Emergency coverage – anytime, anywhere
• Education and support for over 30 conditions through the Aetna Health Connections® Disease Management program. Aetna’s disease management program can help you learn how to get the treatment and preventive care you need, how to better manage your ongoing conditions and to make changes to reach your personal health goals;
• With Aetna’s Informed Health Health® Line, you can talk to a registered nurse anytime day or night. Just call this 24-hour toll-free number (available upon enrollment) for health advise when at home or on the go;
• Aetna’s HMO and PPO plan will also offer special discounts on a variety of additional services.

Also included in this email are key dates for you to communicate to employees.

On October 16, 2009, we will send an email Blast to employees’ desktops announcing the 2010 Open Enrollment. Please print and display copies of all Open Enrollment Email Blasts for the benefit of any employees who do not have a computer on their desktop.

Downloads

2010 Baltimore City Open Enrollment Flyer

Comparison Chart

Key Dates for Open Enrollment 2010:

October 8, 2009 – Health care vendors (CareFirst, Kaiser, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna) begin mailing open enrollment packages to employees’ home address

October 9, 2009 – ADP mails personalized open enrollment packets to all employees

October 16, 2009 -  Email Blast to all employees announcing the 2010 Open Enrollment and the 2010 Benefit Fairs at the War Memorial Building

October 19, 2009 – 2010 Open Enrollment Begins

October 22,27 – 28, 2009 – 2010 Benefit Fairs at the War Memorial Building

October 27, 2009 – Email Blast to remind all employees that open enrollment ends on October 30

October 30, 2009 – 2010 Open Enrollment Ends

November 6, 2009 -  Last day for employees to provide Required Documentation to the Employee Benefits Division