New! Wellness rewards for Fixed Funding Solutions

Beginning Oct. 1, 2020, eligible members of new and renewing groups can earn up to $100 in rewards for healthy habits with Fixed Funding Solutions plans for groups of 5-99 eligible employees.* These plans are available exclusively through CBIA Health Connections.

By encouraging preventive care and physical activity, rewards can ultimately help employees live healthier. For employers looking for an edge in the talent market, wellness rewards can be a boon.

The program rewards eligible members for doing one, two, or all three of these activities:

When individuals earn a reward, they can redeem it for an e-gift card to one of hundreds of popular online and retail locations.

Want to learn more? Reach out to your Fixed Funding Solutions account manager.

*Wellness rewards are available for subscribers (employees) and eligible spouses and dependents age 18 and older enrolled in a Fixed Funding Solutions plan. Members redeem rewards as e-gift cards through the WellSpark website. The maximum reward for each plan member is $100 per plan year.

Reminder: Some temporary COVID-19 commercial plan benefit enhancements have expired

After a public health emergency was declared in the state of Connecticut in March, ConnectiCare temporarily waived cost-shares for – and some limits on – certain services to help protect the health of our commercial plan members. Many of these waivers expired Sept. 9, 2020 (except for cost-share waivers for COVID-19 testing).

Worth noting: members of commercial fully-insured and Fixed Funding Solutions plans can still have telehealth visits with their own doctors. Their cost shares for telehealth visits will be the same as for office visits, as described in their benefit summaries.

We updated our COVID-19 information center and emailed members (and mailed to subscribers for whom we don’t have email addresses) to remind them. We also updated the questions and answers to guide conversations with your clients.

Medicare Part D creditable coverage notifications

Your employer-group clients are required to notify their Medicare-eligible employees by Oct. 15, 2020, about whether their employer-sponsored prescription drug plan is at least as good as the standard Medicare prescription drug program. This is defined as "creditable coverage."

Employers are required to notify eligible members of creditable coverage:

Letters will be mailed to the applicable employer-group clients by the end of September. To further help these clients meet the notification requirement, we’re posting information on our secure employer website for review. Below are samples of what those materials will look like:

Letters sent to Medicare members from ConnectiCare’s President

Members of Medicare Advantage (MA), Choice Dual (HMO D-SNP), and Medicare group plans received a letter from ConnectiCare President Eric Galvin earlier this month. This letter served as a check-in around the coronavirus (COVID-19) and included information on: home prescription delivery, annual checkups and preventive care, managing stress, help with doctor’s appointments, the ConnectiCare centers reopening, extension of no-cost benefits for COVID-19 (MA and group plans only), and telemedicine (MA plans only).

Now in homes: the latest issue of Housecall

The fall 2020 edition of Housecall was mailed to the homes of all Medicare members this week, with different versions sent to Medicare Advantage and Choice Dual (HMO D-SNP) members. The D-SNP version has articles in both English and Spanish.

Annual renewal campaign for Medicare Advantage members

We’re kicking off our annual renewal campaign for ConnectiCare Medicare Advantage members. Many of your clients will receive a mailing from us in the first week of October following receipt of their Annual Notice of Changes (ANOC) (which should be in homes by Sept. 30).

The mailing will highlight positive plan changes and, in some cases, let them know about another ConnectiCare plan they might want to consider. We’re also sharing information about optional dental coverage, where applicable.

Our mailings will alert members that there is nothing they need to do if they want to stay with their current plan. We recommend they talk to their brokers if they have any questions. We also give them the option to reach us by phone or in person at a ConnectiCare center with any questions. Ask your account manager if you have any questions about this mailing.

Changes in PCPs accepting Passage plans

We’re making our annual changes to the primary care providers (PCPs) who participate in our Passage plans, which we will continue to offer in 2021.

We continuously review our network and the PCPs who participate with our plans. As part of this analysis, we made some changes to the PCPs who participate in Passage plans. PCPs who will no longer participate as primary care doctors in Passage plans will continue to be part of the ConnectiCare network and available to treat members with other plans. Please check the provider directory to ensure that a client’s PCP is participating for your client’s plan.

Medicare member notification

We will mail letters next month to members with Passage Plan 1 (HMO) whose PCP will not accept the Passage plan in 2021. Members will have options during the annual enrollment period (AEP), including:

Our Medicare member services staff will call the members notified to answer any questions about benefits or doctors. We will also send information to members about 2021 plans. In each communication, we tell members to contact their brokers for help enrolling in a 2021 plan.

Commercial member notification

Next month, we will mail letters to commercial members who may be affected. Individual (Exchange and SOLO) and fully-insured small group members will also receive information about 2021 plan options, including plans in which they may be able to continue visiting their PCP.

We advise members who work with brokers to contact you for help selecting 2021 plans or to contact us if they want help identifying new PCPs.

New shop & enroll feature coming Thursday

We will be launching a new shop-and-enroll feature on our website on Thursday. This site, available through connecticare.com, will let your individual clients looking for commercial plans (exchange or SOLO) or Medicare Advantage plans: