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E-Motion Wellness Spa, located at 1711 Sheepshead Bay Road offers Patient Advocates, Personal Motivational Coaching, Nutrition by a Licensed Dietician all coordinated by physicians.  The office is now making appointments for November. Call 347-965-9222. Evening and weekends are available.

We have been informed that a letter went out to employees letting them know that the open enrollment packages will be mailed shortly. Many people have told us that they don’t bother to open the envelopes because they don’t want to change their plans. We have also been getting calles from members who were shocked that their were changes to their plan last year. They only realized that as they went to the doctors or hospitals in 2009. This year it is very important to look at your plan choices carefully. You may be entitled to a lot more benefits than you are taking advantage of. The following HMO\’s wil be offered in 2010:

808 – Capital District Physicians Health
825 – Blue Alliance NY
843 – Univera Healthcare NY
822 – HIP Health Plan of NY
814 – Empire BCBS HMO of NY (now called Anthem EPO NY/NE)
847 – Aetna INC HMO
838 – HealthNet of Connecticut
827 – Independent Health of Buffalo
817 – United Health Care Passport/Harvard Pilgrim

Doctors are reporting that insurers are requiring PCP referrals for services such as x-rays, MRI’s and lab tests, forcing patients to use HMO rules even for out of network services.  We are receiving reports of doctors trying to get out of lease arrangements because they cannot make the rent, even on Madison Ave. Patients are telling us that co-pays and deductibles are higher and more services are not covered by employer sponsored plans. Doctors are still looking for new patients to make up the loss on per patient income.

SUN-B is now a 501(c)3 not for profit corporation. We have started to gain notice on LinkedIn and Facebook by posting members news. We get on the front page of other groups who work with seniors and we get on the email list for those groups as well. I’m getting direct emails from some very prestigeous people in the field who read these posts as well. Look up SeniorUmbrellaNetworkofBrooklyn in groups.

 

Caryn’s profile is getting a lot of activity also, as an expert in health policy and private medical practice management.  

On July 29, 2009, Governor David A. Paterson signed into law three bills in order to make health insurance more affordable and increase people’s access to health care:

• Unmarried Dependents:  can be covered under a parent’s group health insurance policy until they are 29.  The families, not employers, would pay the premiums for their children. Under this bill, the children can be covered regardless of financial independence;
• COBRA and State Continuation:  will be extended from 18 to 36 months; and
• Managed Care Reform: will install several protections for the insured with regards to benefits and claim payment.  These protections include:
  • Prohibiting insurers from treating an in-network provider as out-of-network because the referring provider was out-of-network;
  • Reducing the time insurers have to review requests for post-hospital health care at one’s home; and
  • Limiting heath insurers’ and HMOs’ ability to delay payment or deny claims by sending a coordination of benefits questionnaire.

 Below is the link for the full press release from Governor Patterson:

http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0729095.html

 

Please call me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the new legislation or any of your insurance needs.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in these updates, please let me know and I will add him/her to the distribution list.

 

Sincerely,

Robert S. Israel, CLU 
Long Island Planning Group, Ltd.
6800 Jericho Tpke.
Suite 203W
Syosset, NY 11791
516-682-8400 phone
516-682-8590 fax
http://www.liplanning.com

 

 

 

 

 

The Affordable Health Care Choices Act will not come to a vote unitl September as Washington goes home for vacation. They return in September, when it will be seen whether they have gotten enough support at home to proceed with a vote. It will be the jobs of our representatives job to make people understand what is really in the bill, instead of the rhetoric and mis-dis information we are getting from the media.

 

Some things you should know about the bill:

1. It does not effect any collective bargaining agreement.

2. It does not dictate plan design, so whether you have to change your doctor will be up to the insurance plan, not the government.

3. It improves access to coverage for preventive services by mandating services for immunizations and well child care be covered in all plans.

4. It provides grants for improvements to health delivery systems and patient information systems.

5. It is not one big health system. It gives everyone a Cafeteria (the same choices that Congress has) menu of plans to choose from. Each plan will have their own premium cost, deductibles and co-pays. They will all be required to cover anone who can pay the premium.

 

 

Wednesday, July 29th

@12:00 p.m.

on the Steps of City Hall

 

 

A bill to insure that workers in the city of New York can earn paid sick time will be introduced by Council Member Gale Brewer in August.   At noon on July 29th, she will be joined on the steps of City Hall by other elected officials, low-wage workers, business owners, labor leaders, public health experts, advocates for children, women and the aging, The New York State Paid Family Leave Coalition and A Better Balance to urge the City Council to support this important legislation. Please join us!  

With warnings from federal officials that we could face a worse outbreak of H1N1 flu this fall, the urgency is even greater to act now so that workers can follow the Center for Disease Control’s advice to stay home or keep children home from school if they have flu symptoms.

Momentum is building in support of paid sick time — and with your continued help we can make it happen.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/momentum-seen-for-requiring-paid-sick-leave/

Please let us know you will join us on

Wednesday, July 29th at 12:00PM

RSVP via phone @ 212-558-2276 or via e-mail @ NYSPaidFamilyLeave@gmail.com

 

Do you think of Facebook, Linked In or Twitter when you want health information? They are all planning to be your gateway to storing your health data. Do you trust them or would you prefer a government or corporate agency to secure your privacy?

The Latest on Health Care Reform from http://cwa-union.org

The House of Representatives is on track to introduce a comprehensive health care reform bill this week and to hold committee markup and votes beginning next week.

Three House committees — Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means – have been working together to produce one bill.

CWA has four key priorities for real reform: participation by all employers, coverage for pre-Medicare eligible retirees, a public plan option and no taxes on health care benefits for working and middle class families. 

On the Senate side, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is putting the final touches on its package that will include a public plan option, employer mandates and other provisions. Still in the works is the Senate Finance Committee version.

SUN-B Honors Brooklyn BP with the POWER of ONE Award at their Sixth Annual Luncheon.

Caryn and Franco Corrado produced this video which was shown to 200 attendees at the event.

Caryn Isaacs has been named Vice President/Secretary of SUN-B.

Check out their web site. Senior Umbrella Network of Brooklyn