Hello and welcome. My name is Schann Holladay, and I am the manager of account services for the MHBP Health Plans. MHBP is one of the nationwide PPO plans that are now available to you. We are a postal plan, so that does seem to create a little confusion out there, but I assure you, all of our plans are open to both federal and postal employees, as well as retirees. And in fact, we have been covering federal employees for the last 60 years. Good news from us, there will be no premium increases on any of our plans for 2024. The only significant benefit changes that we have made to our plans was to add artificial insemination medical procedures.
So what can you expect from us here at MHBP? All of our MHBP plans will provide worldwide coverage for you and your family. Within the United States, we do use the Aetna network with over 1.8 million participating providers. All of our plans also offer out-of-network benefits. So even if you happen to see a provider that is not in our network, you’re still going to receive coverage for that service.
Our customer service is available to answer your questions 24/7. So if you ever have questions about claims, if it’s the middle of the night and you have something going on and you want to know how much it’s going to cost you or where you need to go, our customer service is always there to assist you.
So we do have three plans and we’ll take a quick look at all three.
Please note I do list the premiums and the enrollment codes for each of my health plans at the very bottom of the slide, so I’m not going to spend any time on that as I go through my presentation. So our standard option is our traditional copay based plan. So for most services on this plan, you are simply just going to pay a copay. As with most federal health plans, our standard option does cover all of your preventative care at 100%. In addition to that, we also cover unlimited CVS MinuteClinic visits, which if you’re not familiar with those CVS does have clinics inside their pharmacy staff by a nurse practitioner. Great for the minor stuff. And with us, you can do that as many times as you want for free.
You can also do unlimited telehealth visits through Teladoc for free, and that does include both mental health and physical health visits. All of your labs services, as long as your provider sends those labs to Quest or LabCorp will be covered at 100%. And all maternity services on this plan are covered at 100%.
This plan also has one of the richest chiropractic and acupuncture benefits in the federal program. We will cover up to 40 visits a year, and in network it is a $20 copay. Urgent care on this plan is a $50 copay, and if you go to the emergency room, it is a $200 copay. For prescriptions, if you’re using generics, you can simply just go to your local neighborhood pharmacy and it’s a $5 copayment for a 30-day supply of any generic. If you are using name brand drugs, with us you are going to want to do one of two things. Either use a CVS pharmacy or use our mail order program. And by doing either of those two things, you can get a 90-day supply of a name brand medication for an $80 copay.
Now, if you are looking at my slide, you may have noted that this plan does have a $350 deductible for self, 700 for family coverage. Just to clarify, that deductible only applies to inpatient and outpatient hospital services, diagnostic testing services, so things like MRIs and CAT scans and durable medical equipment.
The next plan I want to share with you is our consumer option plan and the consumer option plan is our high-deductible health plan with the health savings account. I myself am a huge advocate of these plans. In fact, I am currently 59 years old and I’ve been on this type of plan now for well over 20 years. Now, certainly I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know your individual needs, but I can tell you from my family, we really don’t go to the doctor very often. Nobody in my family takes medications on a regular basis. So the fact was, when I was on a traditional copay-driven plan, I was just wasting my money because I was paying thousands of dollars year in and year out for something we really just didn’t use. And that’s where these high-deductible health plans come in.
So with a high-deductible health plan, yes it does have a high deductible, but we fund for you what is called a health savings or HSA account, and MHBP contributes more to that account for you than any other federal plan. We contribute a hundred dollars a month or $1,200 a year for self-only coverage, or $200 a month, $2,400 a year for self-plus-one and family coverage into your HSA account for you each and every year that you are our member. And you have the freedom to spend those funds where you need them, whether it’s medical, dental, vision, or prescriptions. Those HSA funds are available to spend on those services tax-free.
Keep in mind, as you’re putting this entire benefit package together for you and your family, the best federal dental plan only covers major services. We’re talking root canal and crowns here at 50%. That means 50% of that cost is going to come out of your pocket, and that is another area where these plans can really benefit you because they do give you that freedom to spend your money where it’s needed. But the best thing about your HSA account is this. Any funds that you have remaining in that account at the end of the year simply roll over and accumulate year after year. Those funds are also portable, and what that means is that if you have been on this plan for a couple of years and you’ve built up four or $5,000 in that HSA account, but you decide to leave the plan, it means you’re still going to take that account of money with you even if you leave.
Now, your preventative care on this plan is covered at 100%, but all other services do apply to the deductible. The deductible for self-only coverage is $2,000, and for self-plus-one and family coverage is $4,000. But understand this, even with that deductible, you will never pay out of pocket for any service unless you’ve exhausted all of those funds in your HSA account. And as you’re spending those funds from your HSA account, you are also satisfying that deductible. After the deductible is met, the consumer option copay for inpatient hospital services is $75 per day up to a maximum of $750. Durable medical equipment, things like wheelchairs, oxygen supplies, and CPAP machines are covered at 100% on this plan. Both inpatient and outpatient surgery on this plan are covered at 100%.
And here’s the big one for me. If any of you have ever experienced cancer treatment neither for yourself or a loved one, you know how expensive that treatment can be. On our consumer option, both chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatment are just a $15 copayment. So our consumer option does have excellent benefits for those times when you do need it, but keep in mind, you’re also going to have those funds in your HSA account that are simply going to roll over and accumulate until they’re needed.
And the last plan I want to share with you is our value plan. Our value plan focuses on affordability and can be a great choice if you were looking for preventative coverage and the occasional visit to the doctor’s office, but still need protection from major expenses. Even with the low premium on this plan, we still cover all of your preventative care, unlimited CVS MinuteClinic visits, unlimited telehealth visits through Teladoc, all of your lab services through Quest or LabCorp, and all maternity services at 100%, along with offering low copays for your primary care office visits and your generic prescriptions. This plan also has the rich chiropractic maximum of 40 visits a year. And on this plan we would cover those services at 80% and network.
MHBP also offers supplemental dental and vision plans for federal and postal employees. Because we are not part of the Fed Dental and Vision Program, our plans are open for enrollment year round, not just during open season, and you can also cancel the coverage at any time. So you’re not locked in paying premiums for something if you’re not using it. Now with that being said, because we are not part of the FEDVIP program, your premiums would not be payroll deduct and therefore not pre-taxed. You would call us up and set up a payment plan either through a credit card or a bank account. For dental, the premiums do vary by region, so you can go to mhbp.com/dental, type in your zip code and find the premiums for your region there. For vision, the premium is $8.60 a month for self-only coverage and $16 a month for family coverage.
MHBP offers many free care management programs, including programs for behavioral health, cancer support, and diabetes care, along with our three newest programs: Hello Heart, Hinge Health, and SkinIO. All MHBP members over the age of 18 get free access to Hinge Health, a digital exercise therapy program for back, knee, hip, shoulder, and neck pain at no cost.
Hinge Health provides you with a personal physical therapist and health coach, wearable sensors that connect to your smartphone that will help guide you and provide feedback on your positioning during stretches and exercises, and your personal care team will tailor the program to you.
Hello Heart is an easy-to-use program that helps you track and manage your heart health from the privacy of your own phone. The Hello Heart program is offered at no cost to eligible MHBP members and includes a no-cost blood pressure monitor that connects to an app on your smartphone.
SkinIO is a free 10-minute skin cancer check you can do from home using your smartphone. This program is free and results are provided within a couple of days. The results will be reviewed by a dermatologist and if there are any concerns, they will help you connect with an in-network dermatologist in your area.
So that’s going to wrap up our presentation for today. Here is my contact information. I certainly encourage you to reach out to me if I can be of any assistance to you. I will also invite you to take a look at mhbp.com. There’s a lot of really great information out there for you to review. And you also do have the ability to set up a one-on-one phone consultation with one of our MHBP team members who will call you back at a specified date and time and spend as much time as you need going over all of your questions. I thank you so much for your time today and I hope you have a wonderful day.
