New life insurance carrier

Smoking burns money

Know your prescription benefits

Mammograms for early protection

Ineligible dependents

Cancer help with CanCare

New life insurance carrier
On Oct. 1, 2003, Standard Insurance became the new life-insurance carrier for basic and voluntary life insurance coverage. Employees will continue to pay the same rates for their voluntary coverage as well as receive several new or improved benefits.

The city-sponsored basic coverage now pays double indemnity or two times the annual base salary when an employee dies as a result of an on-the-job accident or injury. This new benefit, along with other improvements, will be in the life-insurance certificates that employees receive in December 2003.

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Smoking burns money
If you smoke three packs of cigarettes a week, at a cost of $4 per pack, you can save nearly $1,000 in one year by stopping smoking.

You can save $624 on cigarettes, and city employees and their dependents who do not use tobacco products qualify for the disease prevention discount rate that saves them $300 a year in medical plan contributions.

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Know your prescription benefits

If you are taking long-term maintenance medications, you receive a better benefit when you order your prescriptions from AdvancePCS. You will receive a three-month supply of your medications for a two-month copayment.

If you send a prescription for a 30-day supply to AdvancePCS, the firm will fill the prescription, mail it to you, and charge the higher mail-order copay, not the lower retail cost.

You may get the mail-order forms from the Benefits Division at 611 Walker, 4th floor, Houston, Texas 77002, or visit www.advanceRx.com. You may also order refills of your prescription at www.advanceRx.com, where you can find a wealth of helpful information that is updated often. Check it regularly.

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Mammograms for early detection
One in eight American women will develop breast cancer. Mammography, which can detect tumors two years before they can be felt, is still the best tool for early detection. Mammography screening is a safe, low-dose X-ray technique that reveals 85-90 percent of breast cancers. With early diagnosis, more than 90 percent of women with breast cancer survive five years or more from the time a tumor is discovered, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

The city’s medical benefits plans cover an annual screening mammogram for females over 40 or with other risk factors.
There is no copayment for members of the HMO plan. Be sure to request a well-woman appointment. The copayment is $30 for POS in-network and 40 percent after a $500 deductible for POS out-of network. The out-of-area plan requires you to pay 30 percent after the $350 deductible.

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Ineligible dependents
Drop dependent children from your medical and dental plans when they reach age 25 or before 25, if they are no longer your legal dependents. One example is the marriage of a dependent child.

Drop dependents from your life-insurance policy when they reach age 21, unless they are full-time students from age 21-25. Drop an ex-spouse from your benefits plans, effective on the date of the divorce decree. If you do not drop your dependents in a timely manner, and later apply for a refund of premiums, you may receive a refund for only two months. The life-insurance company will not pay a benefit when an ineligible dependent dies, even if you have paid premiums.

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Cancer help with CanCare
If you or someone you love has cancer, or their cancer is in remission, CanCare of Houston, Inc., provides free emotional support, education, retreats and hospital visits. CanCare volunteers are matched with individuals according to type of cancer, treatment, age, gender and family situation.

Can Care’s philosophy is that no one should suffer from cancer alone; that people who get support and encouragement have a better chance to survive; and that every person in a family needs help, because one person’s disease affects the whole family.

For more information about what CanCare can do for you, or to volunteer, call (713) 461-0028 or visit www.cancare.org.

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