All GIC Employee and non-Medicare Retiree/Survivor health plans include a deductible. This is a fixed dollar amount you must pay before your health plan begins paying benefits for you or your covered dependent(s). The deductible is on a fiscal year to make it easier for members to change health plan carriers at Annual Enrollment.
The Group Insurance Commission (GIC) was established by the Legislature in 1955 to provide and administer health insurance and other benefits to the Commonwealth's employees and retirees, and their dependents and survivors. The GIC also covers housing and redevelopment authorities' personnel, participating municipalities, and retired municipal employees and teachers in certain governmental units.
Health coverage options include an Indemnity plan, Point of Service (POS) plans, Preferred Provider-type Organizations (PPOs), an Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO), and several HMO plans. As part of its UniCare state indemnity and active employee Tufts Health plans, it manages mental health/substance abuse benefits and also manages pharmacy benefits for the indemnity plans. For active state employees only, the GIC offers a long term disability (LTD) program, two pre-tax employee programs - Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) and Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP), and for managers, legislators, legislative staff and certain Executive Office staff, a dental/vision plan. The GIC offers a discount vision plan for Commonwealth retirees and a dental plan for state and certain municipal retirees
The Group Insurance Commission is a quasi-independent state agency governed by a seventeen-member Commission appointed by the Governor. Commission members encompass a range of interests and expertise including labor and retirees, the public interest, the administration, and health economics.
The GIC’s FY2017 appropriation is $2.1 billion. There are currently over 250,000 enrollees and over 436,000 people covered by the GIC.
This is the plan Town employees said they did not want to change to.
The idea of looking at GIC was to see if changing would save the whole Town money, as in reducing the amount of tax dollars spent on Town employee health insurance.
posted by Jeff Bennett
