Altus Dental & Vsp Commence July 1
As of July 1, Altus Dental, based in Providence, RI, will replace MetLife as the administrator of the GIC Retiree Dental Plan. Briefly, this Plan is offered to state retirees and survivors, as well as local retirees whose former public employer (city, town, etc) participates in the GIC including the dental plan.
IMPORTANT: Current enrollees do not have to re-enroll during Open Enrollment. If you want to continue your dental coverage, you don’t have to do anything. But remember if you are a new enrollee, you must enroll for at least 12 months and if you drop GIC Retiree Dental coverage, you may never re-enroll.
Also effective July 1, Davis Vision will be replaced by VSP that has partnered with Altus. Since there is no enrollment or monthly premium with this plan, nothing needs to be done during open enrollment. We expect to have more details on the VSP Plan in the next (July) Voice. Ed Note: As part of Mass Retirees Advantages (discount program), VSP offers insurance-type vision plans that have a monthly premium.
Key features with Altus include:
- Higher annual maximum benefit of $1,500 that will be reimbursed on a fiscal year (July-June) basis and no longer on a calendar year
basis. - Enrollees can visit one of the more than 400,000 participating locations in the Altus Dental network, and you’ll enjoy lower outof-
pocket costs. You may pay more for an out-of-network dentist. - With Altus Preventive Rewards, most of an enrollee’s preventive and diagnostic dental services don’t count toward your annual
maximum. - Enrollment: You may join during Annual Enrollment, or within 60 days of a “qualifying” event. (i.e. retirement, COBRA ends).