Medical Plans Available
Arctic IT offers medical plans through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program for tribal employees. The FEHB plans give you and your family choices so you can choose the plan that works best for healthcare needs.
Open enrollment
Open enrollment begins November 14, 2022, and concludes December 12, 2022. Enrollment for all benefits is available through PlanSource.
During open enrollment, you can add or change dependents, and enroll (or decline coverage) for the following benefits:
Medical plans through FEHB
Dental and vision coverage
Health care flexible spending account
Dependent care flexible spending account
Voluntary employee, spouse, and child life insurance
UPCOMING FEHB EDUCATIONAL WEBINARS
October 18 at 3 p.m. EST/11 a.m. AKST
October 19 at 12 p.m. EST/8 a.m. AKST
October 27 at 2 p.m. EST/10 a.m. AKST
New Employees
You can add or change dependents and enroll (or decline) for the following benefits during your initial enrollment period and annual open enrollment period:
• FEHB Medical Plan
• Dental and Vision Coverage
• Health and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance for Self, Spouse, and Child
• Basic Life Insurance
You must re-enroll in all your benefits for the 2023 plan year.
CHOOSING A PLAN
Every family’s needs are different. Choose a plan that matches the way you use medical services. For example, if you have a lot of doctor visits, you may want a plan with lower out-of-pocket expenses. Or, if you have a prescription drug you take every day, choose a plan that covers those drugs at the lowest cost.
Decide who to cover
The FEHB plans are available for:
Employee only
Employee + 1
Employee + family
Look at provider networks
Your costs are lower when you use providers who are part of the plan; these are “in-network” providers. If you have doctors or other health care providers that you like, call their office to see if they are in-network for the plans you are considering. This means that they have an agreement with that plan’s insurance company to provide service to you at a lower price.
In general, plans with a bigger network of healthcare providers will give you more choices. If you use providers that are not in your plan’s network, you may pay much more.
Some of the FEHB plan providers use the same networks as Aetna and Cigna:
• APWU – 471 plan uses Cigna/ 474 plan uses United Healthcare
• GEHA – uses Aetna’s network
• MHBP – uses Aetna’s network
• NALC – uses Cigna’s network
• SAMBA – uses Cigna’s network
Think about your budget
With many health plan choices, you can find a premium cost that fits your budget. Your total cost of health care also includes out-of-pocket expenses, so you need to compare those costs as well as the premium cost.
Some FEHB plans put part of your premium in a medical reimbursement account (HSA or HRA) for your use – consider this when comparing plan premium costs.
You can choose a plan in the state you reside. Use the tool to compare features of the plans available to you. You can compare up to four plans at a time.
COMPARE FEHB PLANS
The Compare Plans Tool shows a monthly premium cost for each plan. This is the employee premium most tribal employees pay for each FEHB plan. However, Arctic IT has chosen a different contribution strategy. Please use this chart for your premium cost for each FEHB plan available to you.
Health care definitions
PREMIUM
The amount paid for your health insurance every month. You and Arctic IT share in the cost of this premium, with Arctic IT paying the majority of the cost.
DEDUCTIBLE
The amount you pay for health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay.
CO-PAYMENT
A fixed payment for a service, paid at the time of service. Not usually subject to a deductible.
COINSURANCE
The percentage of the cost you pay for health services after you have paid your deductible.
OUT OF POCKET COSTS
Costs for medical care that are not paid by insurance. This includes deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance for covered services and all costs for services that are not covered. Once you reach your out-of-pocket maximum, the insurance plan will pay 100% of eligible costs for the rest of the calendar year.
COVERED SERVICES
Services covered by your health insurance plan, listed in the plan’s Summary of Benefits.
Frequently asked questions
Below is a list of top and general frequently asked questions. For frequently asked questions regarding eligibility, Flexible Spending Accounts, enrollment, and more, click here.
Arctic IT has placed careful consideration on the health plans we are able to offer our employees to maintain and enhance our benefits plan selections. Many team members have expressed concern over the rising costs of care and coverage that are trending across the country. This year we were up against significant increases to health plan costs that would have been passed along to you – the subscribers. We determined that our health plan is no longer sustainable and began exploring other options to reduce costs. We will now offer health plans through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program for tribal employers. Eligible employees will now be able to enroll in the same health insurance offered to U.S. federal government employees. The federal plans give you and your family more choices and better pricing. The transition to the FEHB plans will help stabilize our health care costs.
All regular full-time and part-time employees are eligible to participate in this plan. You can enroll in an FEHB plan even if you did not enroll in a plan for 2022.
Yes, with some exceptions. You are not eligible for an FEHB plan if you have existing Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage. This does not include other federally managed/funded plans like Medicare, VA, or Indian Health Services.
However, if you have Tricare Reserve Select (not TriCare or TriCare Prime – only Tricare Reserve Select ), you are no longer eligible for that coverage now that you are eligible for FEHB. If you want to enroll for an FEHB plan, you must immediately notify Tricare to terminate your Tricare Reserve Select coverage effective January 1, 2023.
November 14 to December 12, 2022.
The effective date of the FEHB coverage is January 1, 2023, and will go through December 31, 2023.
After the open enrollment period ends, you should receive insurance cards and other information within about two weeks. This information will come from the insurance carrier you selected. If you do not receive your information by December 31st, call the toll-free telephone number listed for that carrier. You can use the “Compare Plans Tool” on the https://www.opm.gov/FEHBcompare website to find the contact information for your insurance carrier.
Your current health plan will end on December 31, 2022. If you do not enroll in an FEHB plan, you will not have health coverage through Arctic IT in 2023 and there is no option for COBRA.
- APWU Health Plan – CDHP (Plan code 474, 475, 476) is an HRA plan that uses United Healthcare’s network. It is the plan that is most similar to the current HRA plan offered to you. This plan is available in all states.
- UnitedHealthcare Choice HDHP (Plan code LU1, LU2, LU3) is an HRA/HSA plan that also uses United Healthcare’s network. This plan may not be available in all states.
For more information contact Nancy Stronach at 781-312-8005 or nstronach@arcticit.com, or Will Daniels at 907-459-2125 or danielsw@doyon.com.