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5b. Medicare Open-Market plans subsidized by HP or HPE. (Updated Apr 24, 2025) If receiving Medicare benefits from -- or subsidized by -- HP or HPE. 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. For 2025, you may have had 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, which can intervene on your behalf. Premiums reflect the cost of care across the HP or HPE retiree population, and are increasing. Group plans 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. While the HP group plans are called "Advantage" plans, they do not have the same features as Advantage plans on the open market -- and are regulated differently. HP group plans will not be offered for 2026. HPE offers Anthem Supplement and Kaiser HMO plans. 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, administer, and service policies that are subsidized by HP or HPE. (Note that ARHS is a separate company from Alight Benefits Administration, which operates the HPInc Benefits Center. The HPE Benefits Center is operated by Alight Benefits Administration as of 4/1/25.) Details and member advice: https://www.hpalumni.org/medicare-open-market 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 ARHS 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 (ARHS). (The HPInc Benefits Center is operated by Alight Benefits Administration -- a separate company from the Medicare sales agency Alight Retiree Health Solutions.) You receive a HP/HPE subsidy only if you purchase through ARHS. 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. Your net price is lower if you buy through ARHS and your policy is subsidized by HP or HPE. No sales agency, including ARHS, offers all policies available in your ZIP code. ARHS examples: 1. AARP/UHC plans do not show up on the ARHS plan selector but are available by request. 2. In past years, Kaiser was not available through ARHS. 3. Until the HPAA raised the issue, Regence Idaho was not available through ARHS. ARHS 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 ARHS system and agents do not have information on group plans available from HP/HPE. Examine the alternatives online before your appointment with an ARHS agent, which you can do without registering or affecting current enrollment.
Prices and features for anyone at https://retiree.alight.com are the same as via the HP and HPE logins -- and the same at any broker or sales agency. (The company-related logins are: https://retiree.alight.com/hp and https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise ) Also use the official Medicare site. 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 ARHS, 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 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.
How to work with ARHS -- member advice
You can explore most -- but not all -- of your options without setting up an ARHS Retiree account (or without disturbing your current ARHS Retiree account settings.)
1. Go to the Alight Retiree Health
Solutions (ARHS) public website Or you can go to ARHS's HP or HPE website and create an account. (This is a different account from your Benefits Center account.) https://retiree.alight.com/hp -- ARHS website for HP. https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise -- ARHS website for HPE. Create account and enter your medications. Then compare policies.
Get your ARHS appointment early! In some states, ARHS doesn't have a sufficient number of licensed agents. You are competing for attention with employees and retirees of 150 other organizations. Members report that ARHS agents vary dramatically in availability, experience, and competence. Because ARHS helps people get their state insurance sales license, that job is an entry path into the insurance industry. You can ask to switch to a different ARHS agent. - ARHS agents receive sales commissions for plans they place in your cart. - Given ARHS's limited availability of licensed and experienced agents in some states, it is best to explore your options online before talking to ARHS. You can do that without setting up an ARHS account or disturbing your current plan choices. 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 ARHS choices for your area -- with list prices that you pay directly to ARHS -- without making any commitment. (You receive the RRA subsidy directly from HP.) You can explore your options without talking to ARHS or creating an account (or without disturbing your current account settings.) ARHS for HP https://retiree.alight.com/hp ARHS for HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise https://retiree.alight.com/hewlettpackardenterprise Prepare for your call by using the ARHS 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 ARHS, "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 ARHS and the Benefits Center to determine the best plan for your specific situation offered via each. Then you make the final choice. The HPAA has an informal escalation path into ARHS management -- which works very well. https://www.hpalumni.org/escalate-ARHS How the HP or HPE subsidy works. You pay list price to the insurance company every month. ARHS 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 ARHS. Instead, the insurance companies pay ARHS for new policies and renewals. 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 ARHS 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 ARHS 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. Advice and reference info from members. Website operated by volunteers. Not officially endorsed or supported. Question? Email: info@hpalumni.org |
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