Society Presents New Group Health Insurance for Members

Provides Freedom of Choice and Specialist Care Without Referral

By Ed Parker

The NYSSCPA now offers members and their employees a new, cost-efficient group health insurance plan underwritten by Group Health Inc.

In endorsing the GHI plan, the Society's members insurance department took into consideration criteria such as flexibility of plan design, freedom of choice, comprehensiveness of provider and hospital networks, and financial stability of the insurance carrier. GHI is a financially solid, not-for-profit New York state insurance carrier that maintains one of the largest hospital panels and most comprehensive physician networks in the state.

The company recently expanded its programs and now offers six plans (FlexSelect, Value, Care, Access Care, Choice, and Choice Plus) with a number of different co-pay, deductible, and co-insurance options, and both in- and out-of-network physician flexibility. Features include:

* Using essentially any hospital in New York state,

* Accessing a network of more than 45,000 GHI providers,

* Seeing specialists without a referral from a "gatekeeper,"

* Going out of network with a choice of deductibles and co-insurance, and

* Paying co-payments only in network and receiving GHI's allowed charges out of network.

Enrollment can begin on the first day of a calendar month, and coverage is available for sole practitioners, small to medium CPA firms (groups of two to 50), and large CPA firms (groups of 51 and over). To be eligible, individuals must be New York state residents not more than 65 years of age. The plan bases premiums on group size and geographic location in New York state. Groups of 51 and over can receive underwriting credits.

The GHI plan offers NYSSCPA members and their employees a combination of plan design quality, affordable pricing, professional administration, 12-month rate guarantees and, most importantly, freedom of choice.

This program is administered by Conference Associates, a Long Island-based employee benefits group administrator with more than 35 years' experience in providing professional associations with effective employee benefit programs.