Medical Product Discounts – Go to http://rxvouchers.com for discount coupons on various medical products.
MGEC Contract Survey – All members should have received an e-mail from their MGEC Contact Person providing them with a link to the on-line MGEC contract survey. If not, please contact us at mgec@mgec.org for the link. Employees wanting worksite meetings to discuss bargaining should ask their MGEC Contact Person to set up such a meeting. A member of the MGEC Negotiations Committee will happily attend.
Minnesota Budget Discussion Websites – The Senate and House have websites where you may go to contribute your ideas on the state budget.
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp
Medical Expense Benny Card Update – Keep your receipts – even if using the “Benny Card.” A note from the State of Minnesota:
The Benny card has now been available for almost two months and while we continue to get very positive feedback on how pleased employees are with its convenience, we are also beginning to recognize that some employees have had issues using the card. In particular, there are two issues that are important for you to know about. The first has to do with employees who have had their Benny card denied when attempting to purchase an item; the second is a reminder that some Benny card purchases require employees to send in documentation to our pre-tax vendor, Eide Bailly, to substantiate a purchase or risk the possibility that the card will be suspended if the documentation or repayment of an ineligible expense is not sent in by the required deadlines.
1. Benny Card Denials
Some State employees have experienced Benny Card denials when presenting the card at local retailers. After reviewing the denials with the vendors involved, we have identified situations where the Benny Card might not work and have some suggestions for employees who have this experience. Although the occurrences have not been widespread, we understand that they can be disconcerting when they occur. This is particularly the case when an employee has had to pay for the item and finds that in most cases the only way to get reimbursed is to use the pre-Benny card process of submitting a manual claim.
Unlike a regular credit card, the Benny Card is dependent upon the local merchant having completed some basic preliminary steps to allow the card to work at their store. The steps require the merchant to sign up to use the debit card system with a correct Merchant Category Code and then correctly code their inventory to distinguish items eligible for pre-tax purchase from other items offered at that store. If any of these steps are not done correctly by the merchant, an item that would otherwise be eligible will not be able to be processed through the Benny Card system.
Here are some reasons why a Benny Card transaction may be declined:
· The card may not have been activated.
· The item being purchased may not be an eligible pre-tax item.
· There are no remaining funds or the card has insufficient funds and the merchant’s system does not allow partial authorization.
· The merchant may not be authorized or may not have signed up to accept health debit cards.
· The merchant may have incorrectly coded an item as a non-health care item.
· The merchant may have only completed the required coding in the pharmacy area. In this situation, the Benny card may work at the pharmacy register but not at the general cashier line.
· The cashier may have incorrectly entered the item at the point of sale.
· The account may not be properly set up in Eide Bailly’s system.
How you can help
While the denials are not frequent (the State’s Pre-tax plan has had over 87,000 successful “swipes” to date) we want to research any of the situations that appear to be an invalid reason for a debit card decline. Eide Bailly is working with the debit card vendor, Evolution Benefits, to identify the source of invalid card declines. In order to do this, we ask that you tell Eide Bailly more about the specific problems you may have had when using your Benny Card. Please call Scott Johnston at Eide Bailly at 952-918-3573 and let him know the details:
· What is the name of the store and where is it located?
· Was the purchase made at the pharmacy register or at a general store register?
· What items were rejected?
Eide Bailly will follow up with you after they have researched your particular situation. Some problems may not be able to be resolved if the issue stems from the retailer’s inventory management system. You may choose to provide this feedback to your retailer so they can be notified to correct the problem.
How you can be reimbursed if your Benny card is denied
In the meantime, Eide Bailly will be happy to reimburse you for rejected purchases via the usual manual reimbursement procedure. Please fill out a request for reimbursement and submit it to Eide Bailly. The form is on their website at: www.eidebaillybenefits.com/som. If requested, they will waive the $50 minimum reimbursement requirement for purchases where the Benny card was improperly rejected.
2. Requests for substantiation of Benny Card transactions (and possible card suspensions)
The IRS requires that individuals who utilize pre-tax benefits keep detailed receipts of their transactions to substantiate pre-tax eligibility. This is the same documentation employees have submitted manually in the past to claim pre-tax dollars prior to the Benny card. While the IRS still requires individuals to keep pre-tax receipts, because of the coding merchants do to identify eligible pre-tax items, the vast majority of transactions do not require that Eide Bailly follow-up with a request for the documentation. However, auto-substantiation does not work 100% of the time. IRS guidelines limit the technologies Eide Bailly is allowed to use to auto-substantiate Benny card transactions. In spite of that, they are successful in processing the vast majority without having to follow-up with a request for a manual submission of a claim form for a transaction that could not be auto-substantiated.
For those transactions that Eide Bailly cannot auto-substantiate, they are required to issue Receipt Request letters to request the itemized documentation. The first request sent asks that documentation be submitted within 30 days. If the information is not received, a second reminder request is sent allowing an additional 14 days for documentation submission.
If the documentation is not received or if Eide Bailly has received the documentation and determined that the expense is not an eligible expense, they will send an Ineligible Expense Overpayment Request letter. This letter allows 14 days for repayment of the expense or an additional 14 days to submit documentation if it has not previously been submitted. If the required repayment or documentation is not received within that time period, per IRS guidelines, use of the card will be suspended until the matter is resolved.
If you have questions, please call Eide Bailly Employee Benefits toll free at 1-800-300-1672 or from the Twin Cities Metro area, call 952- 944-6633.
Membership in Professional Organizations – The MGEC contract provides for the employer to reimburse employees for their membership in professional organizations up to $225 per year. MGEC Contract, Article 19, Section 11 (p. 55)
Providing Career Guidance to high school students – Our nation has identified a big need to increase the number of students that go into fields of science and engineering. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) works to encourage high school students to consider a career in transportation. Members of North Central Section of ITE (NCITE) typically go out several times a year and give presentation or attend career fairs at high schools to talk with students about what a career in transportation is like. MnDOT is also working to have MnDOT engineers do similar presentations encouraging students to go into civil engineering. If you are interested in participating contact:
NCITE Career
Guidance Committee
JoNette Kuhnau, PE, PTOE
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
2550 University Ave W, Ste 345N
St Paul, MN 55114
Phone: 651-643-0464
Fax: 651-645-5116
jonette.kuhnau@kimley-horn.com
www.kimley-horn.com
MnDOT
Emma Corrie
651-366-3378
Emma.Corrie@dot.state.mn.us
Save money on medical costs – there are a few things you can do to save employee out of pocket medical costs.
The insurance plan has four tiers. Tier 1 has the lowest costs for employees and Tier 4 the most expensive. Employees often choose the clinic they want to go to and are stuck with the Tier level it’s associated with for their provider. Providers are: HealthPartners, Preferred One, and Blue Cross. BUT, did you know your clinic and/or hospital might be a different tier level depending on which provider you access it through? So if you choose “Fix Me Up Good Clinic” under Blue Cross it might be associated with Tier 3 pricing versus if you choose the same “Fix Me Up Good Clinic” under HealthPartners if might be at Tier 1 pricing. So, check out your preferred clinic. Is it a clinic for more than one provider? If so, which health plan has contracted with it for lower costs?
Use mail order for your routine maintenance prescriptions and save one copay for every three month prescription.
There will be no copayment for formulary nicotine replacement therapies for employees and dependents who take the Health Assessment, opt-in for coaching, and are engaged in a plan-sponsored smoking cessation program, or other program as documented by the health coach.