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Members Benefit from Insurance Options; Important New Information

Retirees between the ages of 50 and 64 who have been insured through the Educators Health Alliance (EHA) for five years immediately prior to retirement can continue their EHA coverage through the EHA Direct Bill Plan.  Current premiums and deductible options can be found on the EHA website, www.ehaplan.org., selecting from the menu items, rates and also retirees. For additional information on the BCBSNE HSA Plan go to https://web.ubt.com/hbs/downloads/HSA-info-flyer-singlepage.pdf. To participate in the plan, you must join the EHA group by paying the Special Services fee. For more information, call NSEA at 1-800-742-0047 or 402-475-7611 and ask for Special Services Membership or call Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska at 1-877-721-2583.  Be sure to refer to the EHA Direct Bill Plan when you call. 

Either EHA subscribers or NSEA-Retired members who are age 65 and above and on Medicare may purchase the newly renamed Educators’ Medicare Supplement Plan (the plan that was previously named NSEA-Retired Blue Senior Classic) to pay for the medical costs that Medicare does not cover.  Educators’ Medicare Supplement Plan is endorsed by NSEA-Retired and has excellent dental plan options which are available only at the initial time of enrollment. Supplementary plans pay costs that Medicare Parts A and B do not.  To be fully insured, you will also need Medicare Part D for prescription drug coverage. Medicare Part D providers may be changed each fall. You can call BCBSNE at 1-877-721-2583 to request information and enrollment forms. Be sure to refer to the Educators’ Medicare Supplement Plan when calling. This supplement plan offers both a Plan F and a Plan G, the only difference being Plan G does not cover the Medicare Part B deductible which is $185 for 2019.

Additional information on Medicare can be found at www.medicare.gov. 

Medicare coverage for members age 65 and older

NSEA-Retired endorses Educators’ Medicare Supplement as the Medicare supplement to accompany your Medicare coverage.  Educators’ Medicare Supplement is underwritten by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska and pays for the deductible and co-payment amounts that Medicare does not cover.  Educators’ Medicare Supplement has an optional dental plan that provides PPO dental coverage through the Blue Cross network of providers.  If you decline the dental coverage when you first enroll, you will not be allowed to enroll in the dental plan at a later time.

Medicare information seminars were held in various locations around the state in the fall of 2018 to bring details about Medicare to our members.  You can download the presentations from these seminars and view the presentations on your home computer.  The files are all pdf files, so you don't need any special software to view the presentations.  When you download the presentations, you will see some arrows at the top of the presentation files.  Just click on the "down arrow" to move through the slides for the presentations.

Medicare for 2019

• Click here to download the guide about making the transition to Medicare

• Click here to download a guide to Medicare, including Parts A, B and D

• Click here to download an introduction to Educators’ Medicare Supplement Plans F and G

• Click here to download the summary plan description of Educators’ Medicare Supplement

• Click here to see the rates for Educators’ Medicare Supplement for the 2019 calendar year

Remember, if you decline dental coverage when you first enroll in Educators’ Medicare Supplement, you will not be able to add the dental coverage later.  Premiums posted are effective January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019.

If you need an application packet for Educators’ Medicare Supplement, please call Blue Cross at 800-562-6394 to request one.

Only Educators’ Medicare Supplement offers dental coverage as part of the Medicare Supplement.  Be sure to ask for the policy by name:  Educators’ Medicare Supplement.

Retirement Seminars

NSEA-Retired offers seminars on retirement planning to local associations.  NSEA-Retired does not charge individual NSEA members to attend the seminars, but does ask that expenses to bring the seminars to local associations be covered.  Each NSEA District has established a policy that will help cover expenses to bring the seminars to locals in that District.  Locals are encouraged to contact their District President to learn what kind of help is provided and how to access that help.

How to request a seminar:

Send an email to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@nsea.org to request a seminar.  Please put “Retirement seminar request for [your local name]” in the subject line of the email.  You can call Rebecca at the NSEA (800) 742-0047 if you need additional information.

CORE,  Call on Retired Educators
There are many ways retired members can continue to be of service to the profession. Several include: 

• working with student members and new educators
• making legislative contacts
• assisting at local meetings and association offices
• participating in Read Across America in local classrooms
• other

Contact NSEA-R president De Tonack at dtonack@neb.rr.com