Important Changes to Some Health Plans

August 21, 2014

HSU employees are receiving a letter from CalPERS announcing that Blue Shield Net Value HMO will no longer be available in Humboldt County beginning January 1, 2015. This means that if you choose the other HMO options available, there will be a significant increase in premiums. Please take the time to review the information that is available.

Employees enrolled in Blue Shield Net Value HMO must make a selection to another plan during Open Enrollment, September 15 – October 10. We will keep employees informed by posting information on the benefits section of our website as we receive it. Please access the links under Benefit News, which provides FAQs, premiums for 2015, and other Open Enrollment information.

All employees will receive the official Open Enrollment email communication in the next few days.

Human Resources will be providing information on this change to employees in various ways, including a Benefits Fair on September 10 in Goodwin Forum, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. We anticipate representatives from the two health plan providers, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, along with other vendors for our voluntary benefits.

We will also be hosting two informal meetings in early September to discuss the basic overview of health plans available in Humboldt County for 2015. We hope these two sessions will provide preliminary information to assist employees in choosing another health plan.

For more information, please visit our Training website, and access Benefits Information Session for dates, times and registration information.

Announcement Approvals: