Office of Group Benefits announce premium increase for 2009-2010 plan year

Premium rates will increase three percent for the 2009-10 plan year and benefits will remain the same for state employees covered by the PPP, EPO or HMO plans. As in previous years, OGB will mail premium rate information to plan members.

In the face of state budget cuts and rising health care costs, OGB has taken these additional steps:

• Some Annual Enrollment meetings have been combined to reduce the number of meetings.

• Unlike previous years, OGB is not mailing a special newsletter to retirees with Medicare. The spring 2009 issue of For Your Benefits newsletter is the only Annual enrollment newsletter you will receive.

• OGB is no longer printing provider directories. Instead, a current list of network providers for all OGB standard plans is accessible online any time via the OGB website (http://www.groupbenefits.org/).

You can search by provider or facility name, specialty, region, city or state. If you do not have a computer at home, visit a nearby public library for free Internet access and help from friendly
librarians, or call or visit your local OGB Customer Service office.