December 1999 Trust Talk
Laser vision surgery
More information to come soon
Discounts for corrective vision surgery, conducted with lasers, will soon be a part
of the Cole and VSP vision plans as discount programs.
Many members have asked, and the insurance companies waited until the industry was mature enough
to support our wide and diverse membership: the marketplace has changed to the point where our insurance companies are ready, and are partnering
with providers of corrective laser surgery for vision.
Both Cole and VSP are deciding the programs’ details, so look for communication about the new
discount programs in the future issues of Trust Talk and on the Trust’s website at http://www.benefitstrust.org.
We encourage you to contact Cole or VSP for discount program information. Cole’s number is 800-334-7591, and VSP’s special laser vision line is (888) 354-4434. VSP should post discount program information on their website (http://www.vsp.com)
soon, probably in early December.
Members currently enrolled in Trust-sponsored vision coverage automatically will be eligible
for the discount program associated with their vision plan. Please, if you're interested in laser vision surgery, ask questions of the insurance
company. Read the program's details carefully, once available. You may also want to compare Cole or VSP to the other offers you receive for laser
surgery.
As a consumer, you deserve all the information you need to make an educated decision; we
have tips on how you can get the information you need.
Open Enrollment 2000
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Enrollment Technology
At the Trust, we try to adopt technology that saves you time and offers
you more opportunities for assistance — the IVR system was developed exactly for these reasons, as was our
website. Now that these systems are in place, we will continue to examine how we can keep pace with your changing
information needs and access capabilities, but be responsible with our funding and your personal information. Some
of the things we're looking into for the near future include on-line enrollment as well as telephone enrollment
(Since over 95% of our membership have access to touch-tone phones).
Please continue to let us know if we're meeting your needs.
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Once again, you will have the opportunity to enroll in dental, vision and supplemental life
insurance benefits sponsored by the Trust. We strongly believe that you should have the opportunity to make changes to your coverage at least
annually. However, if you’re happy with the coverage you have, you can keep it and will not have to fill out more paperwork.
If you choose to update or change your coverage during our open enrollment, the changes will be
effective from July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2001 (our plan year).
Our goal is to hold our open enrollment at the same time as the DAS enrollment (for health
care and the dental, vision and life coverage for exempts). Although the exact dates have not yet been determined, it’s time to start thinking
about your benefit coverage needs for the upcoming plan year. We will let you know the dates for open enrollment as soon as they are finalized;
expect that enrollment will occur sometime between April and June.
We're always looking for ways to make enrollment a smooth process for our members. We are currently
investigating the potential for allowing members to select their coverage over the telephone. (DAS may also use this process for their open enrollment.)
We will keep you informed as we continue to coordinate our enrollment with DAS.
The phone system (see
phone article) is the first step toward being ready for a telephone enrollment.
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