4J FLU SHOT CLINICS

A flu shot cannot prevent all cases of the flu, but it is the best protection we have from the flu and its complications.  A flu vaccine also helps prevent spreading flu from person to person.  The 2013-2014 vaccine available at the 4J clinics will help protect against 3 different influenza viruses.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) recommends that all people 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine, but there are different protocols for young children.  Our particular vaccine is not approved for children under 10, so if you have children you would like to get vaccinated who are not eligible for the 4J clinics, you will need to contact your pediatrician.  Two flu shot clinics will be held in 4J for you to get this year’s vaccination.

Flu shot eligibility extends to:

• all active employees (even those who are not insurance eligible due to less than half-time status)
• all insurance eligible dependents of active employees, including those who have waived coverage
• all retirees and their dependents who are currently covered on the 4J insurance
• student teachers and substitutes (licensed and classified)

Flu shot eligibility does not extend to:

• retirees who are no longer on the 4J insurance
• retiree’s dependents who are not on the 4J coverage (even when the retiree is still covered)

In this case, “dependents” refers to spouses and domestic partners, as well as insurance eligible children age 10 or over.  All children 10-16 years of age must have a parent or guardian with them to be vaccinated.

Flu shot clinics will be held in the Ed Center Auditorium, from 3 PM – 5:30 PM:

• Thursday, October 17
• Tuesday, October 22                                   

E-mail reminders and flu shot consent forms will be sent prior to each clinic.

The 4J Wellness Clinic will not be giving routine flu shots.  They will have a limited supply of the vaccine for high-risk patients only.

OTHER FLU SHOT OPTIONS

If you can’t make the 4J flu shot clinics and have OEBB/Moda insurance, you can receive a flu shot at a network pharmacy – no copayment necessary!

Call ahead of time to make sure the pharmacy has the vaccine you need.  Show your Moda Health ID card to the pharmacist for billing before receiving a vaccine – otherwise, it may not be covered.  (Your current insurance card is still valid.)

The following participating chain pharmacies provide vaccines:

• Rite Aid
• Fred Meyer
• Target
• Bartell Drugs
• Safeway

For a complete list of network pharmacies or if you have questions, call Moda Health Pharmacy Customer Service at 866‐923‐0411.

RATES AND DEDUCTIBLES

Medical, vision, pharmacy and dental plans are administered on a plan-year basis.  The new plan year begins October 1, 2013 and goes through September 30, 2014.  The deductible and accruals toward maximum out-of-pocket reset October 1 regardless of whether they were met the previous plan year.  However, if you did not meet your deductible during the previous plan year and had continuous coverage, any expenses applied to your deductible during the last 3 months of the previous plan year will be carried over and applied to the deductible for the new plan year.

While the new insurance rates take effect October 1, we pay our monthly insurance premiums at the end of the month, not the beginning.  Thus, active employees and retirees still receiving a paycheck will see the rate change reflected in the October 31^st paychecks.  Retirees who have arranged for payment from a bank account will see the change in rates in the November 5^th ACH payment.

Please check your paycheck or bank statement to verify that you have been charged the correct amount for your insurance elections.

FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNTS

Like our insurance plan year, the new FSA plan year began October 1, 2013 and runs through September 30, 2104.  If you submitted an FSA enrollment form for dependent care expenses and/or unreimbursed eligible health-related expenses, you should see the first deduction come out of your end of October paycheck.

4J has not yet had a chance to enter the FSA enrollments into the PacificSource Administrators system, so you cannot yet submit receipts for reimbursement.  Once the accounts are set up, requests can be processed.  Until then, please hang onto your receipts.

If you had an FSA set up for the October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 plan year, you have 90 days from the end of that plan year to submit eligible receipts for reimbursement.

If you have any questions, the PacificSource Administrators Customer Service number is 541-485-7488 or you can access the PSA website at http://psa.pacificsource.com/PSA/.

HEALTHY FUTURES

Healthy Futures is a new program designed to encourage OEBB members to learn their individual health risks and how to take action to reduce or eliminate risks whenever possible.

If you signed up for the program and are ready to get started you’ll need to complete your confidential online health assessment – you can do this anytime between now and May 31, 2014.  If you have a spouse/domestic partner who also signed up to participate, he/she will also need to complete the assessment.  Go to https://www.modahealth.com/oebb/members/ and log into your myModa account (same as your former myODS account), or register for a new account, then click “Health Risk Assessment (HRA)”

Once you know your risks, you can get started on your wellness activities.  You can find detailed Healthy Futures information on the OEBB website:  http://www.oregon.gov/oha/oebb/pages/HealthyFutures.aspx.

If you didn’t sign up and would like to participate, it’s not too late.  You can log into the MyOEBB system (https://myoebb.org/oebb/!pb.main) anytime between now and March 31, 2014 and indicate “YES – I want to participate in Healthy Futures!”

RETIRING THIS YEAR?

If you are considering retirement sometime during or at the end of the school year, there are three simple steps you’ll need to take:  contact PERS to begin your Service Retirement process, contact me (Julie Wenzl) to learn about your 4J retirement benefits, and contact 4J Human Resources to give your official written notice of intent to retire and retirement date.

To get advice regarding your PERS retirement, you’ll need to work with your financial planner or directly with PERS.  4J does not give PERS advice.  The phone number for PERS is 888-320-7377 and the website is http://oregon.gov/PERS/.  You can find a great deal of information on the PERS website, and can download forms and sign up for education sessions as well.

Article 4.10 of our contract specifies that you must give the District at least 60 days notice of your intention to retire:

The District will provide two supplemental retirement plans for eligible unit members. A unit member hired and employed as a bargaining unit member prior to July 1, 1998 and continuously a bargaining unit member until the date of retirement from District employment, is eligible for Supplemental Retirement Plan A.  A bargaining unit member hired and employed on or after July 1, 1998, is eligible for Supplemental Retirement Plan B.  A unit member who elects supplemental retirement must provide the District with at least sixty (60) days advance notice of retirement.  Notice may be revoked or waived with District consent.

Article 4.10.1.b of our contract outlines an additional timeline requirement for plan A retirees:

By April 1st, unit members must give the District Human Resource Department a written commitment which specifies a retirement date if they intend to retire during the period from April 1st through November 15th.  If unit members provide this commitment by April 1st, they shall be advanced two payments of the monthly supplemental retirement stipend in the first month following termination from the District.  If unit members do not provide this commitment by April 1st and retire during the period from April 1st through November 15th, the unit members shall not be paid the monthly supplemental retirement stipend or the District insurance contribution during the first two months following retirement.