Open enrollment for the 2010 health care benefits gets underway Monday, Nov. 2 and continues until noon Nov. 23 (Eastern Standard Time). Between now and then, you need to arm yourself with information about what options will best meet your health care needs. Below are some highlights from the benefit plans:

Non-Tobacco Use Agreement
The tobacco incentive will change from being a flat $500 reduction on your deductible to a $10 discount on your bi-weekly premium, whether your coverage is single or family. Accepting the agreement means you will submit to testing and that you will not use tobacco products during 2010. If you fail to keep your part of the agreement, you will lose the discount on your premium and you will lose your job.

Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHPs)
Now in the fifth year of being offered, the plans (formerly known as HDHPs) have been well received by state employees. For 2010, employees enrolling in CDHP1 will pay a bi-weekly premium of $10, whether single or family coverage. Those who select the non-tobacco use incentive will have no premium for 2010.

The bi-weekly premium for CDHP2 will be $31 for single coverage and $59.68 for family coverage. Those accepting the non-tobacco use incentive will pay $10 less each pay period. Deductibles will be $1,500 for single coverage and $3,000 for family coverage, for both in- and out-of-network.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
A companion to CDHPs, HSAs will once again have one-half of the state’s contribution deposited into employee accounts with the first pay of 2010. Equal, bi-weekly contributions will then be made to the accounts. However, for that to happen, employees participating in a CDHP/HSA plan for the first time in 2010 must open an HSA with Tower Bank.

The state’s initial contribution for those with CDHP/HSA1, single coverage, will be $687.96, followed by equal, bi-weekly contributions of $26.46. Initial contributions by the state for family coverage, will be $1,375.14, with bi-weekly contributions of $52.89.

For those with CDHP/HSA2, single coverage, the state will contribute $413.40 initially, followed by bi-weekly contributions of $15.90. The state’s initial contribution for family coverage will be $825.24, followed by $31.74 in bi-weekly contributions.

Traditional PPO
The Trad 2 plan that is offered for 2009 goes away in 2010. In its place is the Traditional PPO (Trad PPO). This new offering is an 80/20 co-insurance plan, which means the employee will pay 20 percent of allowable claims after the deductible is met and before out-of-pocket maximums are reached. Unlike the previous Trad 2 plan, this 80/20 allows for pharmacy claims to accrue to the out-of-pocket maximums.

The bi-weekly premium for Trad PPO, single coverage is $86.56 and family coverage is $231.16. Accepting the non-tobacco use incentive reduces the bi-weekly premium by $10. The deductible is $500 for single, in-network coverage and $1,000 for out-of-network. For family coverage, the in-network deductible is $1,000; with the out-of-network deductible set at $2,000.

The benefits match those of the CDHPs, including preventative services being covered at 100 percent.

New identification cards will be issued for all Anthem plans and will include pharmacy and vision programs.

Welborn HMO
The Welborn plan is available only to employees in certain southwestern Indiana counties. Welborn subscribers can also reduce their bi-weekly premium by $10 by selecting the non-tobacco use incentive. Bi-weekly premiums for those with single coverage is $58.49; family coverage is $139.04.

Note: Regardless of which plan you select, the state shares the cost with employees. The state contributes 80 percent of the health care premiums.

Prescriptions/pharmacy needs
While there is a new administrator for the program, Medco Pharmacy, the changes should be nominal. State employees will receive a Welcome Package from Medco in early December, outlining the procedures for ordering prescriptions and refills.

Dental
The carrier and the plan remains the same. The change for 2010 is that there will now be nominal premiums for both single and family coverage. For single coverage, the bi-weekly rate is $1.02; family will pay $2.68.

Vision
Anthem Blue View Vision Select will provide vision coverage in 2010. There will be no change to benefits, but will be a change in provider access from Access to Select network. Like dental, this benefit will also have a small premium. For single coverage, the bi-weekly premium will be 17 cents; family coverage will run $2.52.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
The only item to change with FSAs is the administration fee, which has increased to $2.63 per pay.

Life insurance
AUL remains the provider. The basic life rate will reduce from $0.1165 per $1,000 of salary to $0.0515 per $1,000 of salary. The supplemental life rates will also reduce.

For more information about the benefits offered for 2010, log onto the open enrollment Web site at www.in.gov/spd/openenrollment