Boston Medical Center Still Available Under BU Insurance Plans
New menu of options doesn’t eliminate BMC for employees’ care
Boston University employees who prefer Boston Medical Center providers and facilities for their health care can still use them next year under all three insurance plans provided by the University, including its new health savings account (HSA) plan. BU officials have reiterated that the plans allow care at BMC after some workers expressed confusion about the coverage.
The newest plan is a high-deductible plan that comes with an HSA for paying eligible out-of-pocket expenses until the deductible is reached. (Premiums are the amounts deducted from your paycheck for your insurance; deductibles are what you pay yourself for medical care before the insurance plan kicks in.) This is the first time BU has offered HSAs, created by the federal government in 2003. Employees have until Monday, December 5, to decide which of BU’s three health insurance options they want. The other two plans are an HMO and a PPO.
Employees who choose to keep their current BU plan don’t have to do anything. However, because the University is eliminating its BMC Preferred Plan, workers enrolled in that plan will be automatically enrolled in the Network Blue New England HMO Plan unless they choose a new one.
University officials explain that BMC is not only an option for health care, but that the HMO plan in particular next year includes financial prods, in the form of lower copayments—or no payments in some cases—for employees to choose a BMC doctor for their primary care.
“The University is very pleased and excited to partner with Boston Medical Center to offer the redesigned Network Blue New England HMO, which provides financial incentives for members to choose the excellent care provided” by BMC, says Nimet Gundogan, Human Resources’ executive director of employee benefits.
Find a chart comparing annual deductibles and other aspects of all three plans here. A comparison of the plans’ premium costs can be found here.
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