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enrollment
Benefits after divorce
Health Fair
Wellness Council sponsors blood drives
Retaining benefits after retirement
Wellness benefits under AFLAC
Filling a prescription
Open enrollment
The annual open enrollment is from mid-March to mid-April for the
medical, dental, and supplemental insurance plans. You may elect/drop
coverage, change plans, or add/drop dependents. You must provide
relationship documents for dependents you add to your coverage.
Documents include a marriage license or declaration and certification
of an informal, common-law marriage; birth certificate or birth
fact for a newborn; and legal documents for foster children, children
placed in your home pending completion of adoption, or children
for whom you are the legal guardian.
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Benefits after divorce
Your ex-spouse is not eligible for benefit coverage under
your medical, dental or life insurance plan on the date that your
divorce becomes final. Your ex-spouse may pay a monthly premium
to keep medical and dental coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act for 36 months. Your ex-spouse may add
a new dependent to the coverage within 31 days after the dependent
is acquired. For more information, call the benefits division, (713)
837-9400.
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Health Fair
The City of Houston Health Fair is Thursday, April 21, from
9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the George R. Brown Exhibit Hall C. Employees
and retirees will enjoy free fitness demonstrations, door prizes,
goodies and screenings such as blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol,
body fat and weight, glaucoma, and lung capacity. Free parking with
a city ID badge. For more information, contact your department’s
wellness coordinator or go to choice.net/wellness
on the city’s intranet. Coordinated by the City of Houston
Employee Wellness Advisory Council. Sponsored by Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Texas.
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Wellness Council
sponsors blood drives
By sponsoring blood drives at various city departments, the City
of Houston Employee Wellness Advisory Council offers employees convenient
opportunity to donate blood. Last year, the city received the 2004
LifeGiver award for employee blood donations that helped save more
than 5,000 lives. Please continue to help save lives by donating
in 2005. For more information, go to choice.net/wellness
on the city’s intranet or contact Roland Bienvenu, (713) 837-9312.
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Retaining benefits
after retirement
If you want to have benefits after you retire, you must be
covered before you retire. As a retiree, you may keep medical and
dental coverage for yourself and your eligible dependents. You may
also keep group life insurance of $5,000. You may also convert dependents’
life insurance to an individual policy. You may apply for medical
and dental benefits during the annual open enrollment from mid-March
through mid-April. Coverage will be effective May 1. If you do not
apply during this period, you will have a 90-day waiting period
until coverage becomes effective. To retain benefits after you retire,
the coverage must be effective before you retire.
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Wellness benefits
under AFLAC
Participants in the AFLAC cancer or accident/disability policies
are covered under a wellness benefit.
The cancer policy provides a $50 annual wellness benefit for any
cancer screening that a covered person, employee or dependent receives.
The accident/disability policy provides a $60 annual wellness benefit
for any wellness screening a covered person receives. The benefits
are paid in addition to benefits paid under the city’s medical
plan. The policies include prostate cancer screening, chest x-rays,
mammograms, and Pap smears. The accident/disability policy also
covers physical examinations.
Employees must have been covered for 12 months before claiming
the $60 benefit. For more information, call (800) 992-3522.
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Filling
a prescription
You must present your medical identification card when you
fill a prescription. Your ID card has a unique ID number, not your
social security number, and two codes that allow the pharmacist
to access your eligibility for prescription coverage with Blue Cross
Blue Shield. If you don’t present your ID card, you may have
to wait to get your prescription.
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