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Dear Faculty Association Benefit Fund Member,

The Trustees of the Faculty Association Benefit Fund are pleased to provide you with this revised comprehensive benefits booklet which describes your benefits through the Faculty Association of Suffolk Community College Benefit Fund. The printing of this booklet will mark the 10th anniversary of your Benefit Fund, a fund negotiated by your union in 1994 to provide you, the members, with supplemental benefits you want and use.

Since the Fund’s inception, the Trustees have made many significant changes to the benefit plan that enhanced and added to the benefits the Fund first offered. This current booklet incorporates all the changes in the Fund’s benefits and procedures since April 2002. The following briefly describes the changes:

Dental Benefits:

The schedule of allowances for dental crown work has been increased to reflect the payment schedule for these services covered by the other Suffolk County municipal union benefit funds.

In addition, the Trustees have raised the amount of anticipated treatment costs required to receive pre-determination approval. As a result of this change, if your course of dental treatment is expected to cost more than $600, your dentist is required to complete a predetermination request on the dental claim form and submit it with a properly mounted set of x-rays for review by the Fund’s consultant dentist prior to the dental work being done.

This booklet clarifies that the time limit for filing a dental appeal is 60 days from the date of the Explanation of Benefits.

Legal Services Benefits:

The Fund’s Legal Services Program will now include an Identity Theft benefit to assist any member who wishes legal consultation in connection with an identity or personal information theft issue.

Optical Benefits:

Effective June 15, 2004, no co-payment will be required for innetwork contact lenses. Standard, soft, daily wear, disposable or planned replacement contact lenses may be selected in lieu of eyeglasses.

Financial Counseling:

Effective September 1, 2004, the Fund will provide, at no cost to retirees in any of our enhanced programs, the Financial Counseling service provided by Stacy Braun.

HIPAA Compliance:

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) administrative practices and notices, including “The Notice of Privacy Practices,” required of the Fund are published in this booklet.


Extension of Benefits:

If a covered member dies, those benefits otherwise available through COBRA will be extended to the spouse or domestic partner and dependent children of the member, at no charge for a period of 90 days after the death of the member (extended benefits period). An extension of the General Consultation Legal Benefit for which the deceased was eligible is also granted to the surviving spouse or domestic partner for 90 says. If there is no surviving spouse/ domestic partner, then these benefits are granted to the member’s eldest surviving dependent.

Coverage for Dependent Survivors:

If the member has completed at least 10 years of service, the members’s enrolled spouse who has not remarried, or domestic partner who has not entered into another domestic partner relations, and eligible enrolled dependent children will be allowed to continue those benefits otherwise available through COBRA on a self-pay basis under the Fund after the extended benefits period ends.

Obviously, the changes cited above only highlight the basic elements of the actual changes. We suggest that you read this booklet carefully and share it with your family. If you have any questions, please contact the Fund Office at (631) 732-6500.

In solidarity and trust,

Ellen Schuler Mauk, Chairperson

IN THE NAME OF THE TRUSTEES:

Tom Breeden
Frank DiGregorio
Sean Tvelia
Joyce Gabriele
Marie Hanna
Kevin Peterman

BENEFITS QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT MARY AT (631) 732-6500.