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5b. Medicare Open-Market plans subsidized by HP or HPE. Advice and reference info from members. (Jul 17, 2024) Website operated by volunteers. Not officially endorsed or supported. Question? Email: info@hpalumni.org If you haven't already done so, start at Medicare - First step Best source of Medicare info is the very clear, official Medicare & You book. Trap: HP/HPE enrollment deadlines are soft deadlines. Medicare deadlines are hard deadlines. You may have two alternatives for your Medicare coverage -- depending on your HP/HPE retiree medical program: 1. Group Medicare policies are privately negotiated by HP or HPE and administered by the HP or HPE Benefits Center. Premiums reflect the cost of care across the HP or HPE retiree population, and are increasing. Group policies can be very different from similarly-named publicly-available individual policies purchased on the open market. May cover dependents or be better for those with pre-existing conditions or high medication costs. May have a broader network and service area, more comprehensive coverage, or different out-of-pocket costs and yearly limits. HP or HPE is the purchaser of the policy -- and can intervene on your behalf. Details and member advice: https://www.hpalumni.org/medicare-group 2. Individual, open-market Medicare policies are available through insurance sales agencies and directly from insurance companies. Policies vary on critical details -- such as network and service area, referrals and pre-approvals, out-of-pocket costs, and yearly limits. Premiums are based on the highly-competitive open market and across all customers of the insurer. HP and HPE have both selected a specific agency -- Alight Retiree Health Solutions -- to sell and administer policies that are subsidized by HP or HPE. You receive an HP/HPE subsidy only if you purchase through AlightRHS. (Note: No sales agency, including AlightRHS, offers all policies potentially available in your ZIP code.) Details and member advice below. If you decline HP/HPE medical coverage: Depending on your situation, you can lose the ability to re-enroll in HP/HPE coverage -- and your surviving dependents will not be eligible for HP/HPE coverage. Details: https://www.hpalumni.org/reenroll-restrictions You must carefully compare the alternatives yourself. The AlightRHS sales agency does not have info on the HP/HPE private group policies. Member advice on how to compare policies: https://www.hpalumni.org/health-compare Consider individual, open market Medicare plans subsidized by HP or HPE: To administer individual policies subsidized through the Benefits Centers, HP and HPE have selected a nationwide sales agency that offers many (but not all) available open-market plans -- Alight Retiree Health Solutions (AlightRHS). (Note that AlightRHS is a separate company from Alight Benefits Administration, which operates the HP Benefits Center. The HPE Benefits Center is operated by Bswift/Aetna.) You receive an HP/HPE subsidy only if you purchase through AlightRHS. This is covered in your Annual Enrollment Coverage Statement, the personalized cover letter mailed with the printed Enrollment Guide. This is not clear in the Enrollment Guides. There are government specifications for open-market Advantage and Medigap policies. A carrier may add additional features, but can't change the required basic coverage. Insurance sales agencies charge the same list price and are paid the same standard commission by the insurance companies -- for the initial sale and then a monthly admin fee thereafter. How it works: You pay list price to the insurance company every month. AlightRHS is paid their commission and reports to the Benefits Center. - If on the Pre-2003 program, you are reimbursed monthly from a special "Retiree Reimbursement Account" (RRA) until your annual subsidy is used up. (No connection with any other account that you might have, such as a Health Savings Account.) The process works well once set up. - If on the current Retiree Medical Program, you can request reimbursement via your Retiree Medical Savings Account (RMSA.) Your subsidy is not reported to the IRS as taxable compensation. HP/HPE do not directly pay anything to AlightRHS. Instead, the insurance companies pay AlightRHS for new policies and renewals. No sales agency, including AlightRHS, offers all policies potentially available in your ZIP code. AlightRHS examples: 1. AARP/UHC plans available by request. 2. Because Kaiser is not available through AlightRHS, HP/HPE have Kaiser group plans available through the Benefits Centers. 3. For example, until the HPAA raised the issue with HP, Regence Idaho was not available from AlightRHS. AlightRHS has a very well-done "Plan Recommendation Tool" -- with details and list prices for the specific policies they carry. To purchase an individual health insurance policy, the transaction must be completed by an agent who holds an insurance sales license in your state The AlightRHS system and agents do not have information on group plans available from HP/HPE. Examine the alternatives online before your appointment with an AlightRHS agent, which you can do without registering or affecting current enrollment. Members report that AlightRHS agents vary dramatically in availability, experience, and competence. (The HPAA has an informal escalation path into AlightRHS management. https://www.hpalumni.org/escalate-ARHS )
- Alight Retiree Health Solutions (AlightRHS) will sell to anyone, but is now owned by an HR outsourcing company. (The HP Benefits Center is operated by a related company, Alight Benefits Administration.) - Prices and features at https://retiree.alight.com are the same as via the HP and HPE logins. ( https://retiree.alight.com/hp and https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise ) - Members report that AlightRHS agents vary dramatically in availability, experience, and competence. No single agency represents all companies. Some companies, such as Kaiser, prefer to sell direct. In either case, the people you talk to must be licensed in your state. You can compare benefits and costs for all open-market policies -- Advantage, Drug, and Medigap -- available in your ZIP code on the official Medicare site. Gives estimated cost -- and contact info -- for each policy. (Notes: No sales agency, including AlightRHS, offers all policies available in your area. The official Medicare comparison site does not have information on any group policies, such as HP/HPE, that you might be qualified for.) https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare There are government specifications for open-market Advantage and Medigap policies. A carrier may add additional features, but can't change the required basic coverage. There are many ways to buy Medicare policies. Your car/home insurance agent carries a limited range of health policies. To find a local independent agent familiar with what works best in your area, ask your friends and neighbors -- or ask on Nextdoor or Facebook. An experienced health insurance agent can make a big difference. For example, members report that their agent may submit an anonymous "test" application to an insurance company. Or help them fill out their application to position them for the best price or coverage -- or deal with pre-existing conditions.
You can explore most -- but not all -- of your options without setting up an AlightRHS Retiree account (or without disturbing your current AlightRHS Retiree account settings.)
1. Go to the Alight Retiree Health
Solutions (AlightRHS) public website Or you can go to AlightRHS's HP or HPE website and create an account. (This is a different account from your Benefits Center account.) https://retiree.alight.com/hp -- AlightRHS website for HP. https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise -- AlightRHS website for HPE. Create account and enter your medications. Then compare policies.
Get your AlightRHS appointment early! In some states, AlightRHS doesn't have a sufficient number of licensed agents. You are competing for attention with employees and retirees of 150 other organizations. - AlightRHS agents vary in level of experience. Because AlightRHS helps people get their state insurance sales license, that job is an entry path into the insurance industry. - AlightRHS agents receive sales commissions for plans they place in your cart. - Given AlightRHS's limited availability of licensed and experienced agents in some states, it is best to explore your options online before talking to AlightRHS. You can do that without setting up an AlightRHS account or disturbing your current plan choices. - The list price for a given plan is the same whether you purchase it through AlightRHS or any other sales agency.
The amount of the subsidy you would receive if you choose to buy through Alight Retiree Health Solutions is shown in the body of the personalized Annual Enrollment Coverage Statement under the heading "HP premium reimbursements for Alight Retiree Health Solutions Retiree Health Exchange coverage." [See yellow highlights in our sample personalized Coverage Statement: hpalumni.org/2021HPIncSampleStatement-Aon.pdf ] Examine the AlightRHS choices for your area -- with list prices that you pay directly to AlightRHS -- without making any commitment. (You receive the RRA subsidy directly from HP.) You can explore your options without talking to AlightRHS or creating an account (or without disturbing your current account settings.) AlightRHS for HP https://retiree.alight.com/hp AlightRHS for HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise Prepare for your call by using the AlightRHS site: - Register and confirm your enrollment appointment - Enter your prescriptions -- which has a huge effect on which plans work best for you. - Compare plans and put the best alternatives in the shopping cart Member tip: After the first year with AlightRHS, "Don't bother with an Advisor, who is unlikely to know anything that you haven't already researched. They also take up a lot of your time. And from reports on this forum, they sometimes stand you up. Now that we are allowed to do our own enrollment on their web site, do that. It worked for me." Work with both AlightRHS and the Benefits Center to determine the best plan for your specific situation offered via each. Then you make the final choice. Your HP/HPE benefits account settings are confusing at first glance: - On your HP/HPE Benefits account, select "Alight Retiree Health Solution $0.00" as your plan -- instead of the default company group plan and price. This will cause the Benefits Center to notify Alight. (It says "$0.00" because you pay the carrier directly.) - The plan or plans you bought are specified on your AlightRHS account -- but are irrelevant to the company, and therefore not indicated on your HP/HPE Benefits account. Carefully go through the Annual Enrollment Coverage Statement, the personalized cover letter mailed with the Enrollment Guide. The Statement gives critical details that are not covered in the Guide -- such as the amount of any subsidy. Unlike the Enrollment Guide, your Coverage Statement is not available on your http://www.myhpbenefits.com account. You can change back to an HP/HPE group plan from AlightRHS individual coverage, see your Enrollment Guide for limitations.
Alight Retiree Health Solutions for HP
https://retiree.alight.com/hp
Alight Retiree Health Solutions for HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise Troubleshooting. Member advice: Medicare troubleshooting and contacts Next step: 5c. How to Use Alight Retiree Health Solutions How to efficiently use the insurance sales/admin agency selected by HP and HPE. |
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