The third party administrator (TPA) that the State employs to pay your healthcare bills is AETNA. This change was effective as of January 1, 2014. Your medical bills are administered in accordance with AETNA’s policies and procedures.
You need to pre-certify for many of the medical procedures. Under AETNA there are 26 procedures that require pre-certification. Your provider is required to accomplish the pre-certifications if he/she/they are “in-network”. If the provider is not in-network, you will have to do the pre-certification and if you have the procedure done out of network, the amount that will be paid by Select Benefits will be a lesser amount. You should make sure your provider is a members of the AETNA network. If you have a procedure scheduled make sure that you have pre-certified. The penalty for not pre-certifying can be very costly.
We have a “ Catastrophic Leave Bank ” that is maintained by our union for our members to access in times of extreme need and/or extended absence from the job due primarily to FMLA issues. The bank is funded entirely from SU members, who upon separation of state service, “had” sick leave on the books when annual and sick leave (50%) converted to Personal Leave several years ago. We negotiated this benefit in 2000 and there is no deduction from any active members leave or contribution required for this benefit.
There are several criteria one must meet in order to qualify for up to 300 hours of catastrophic leave. Please click on the form below for those details.
Other than meeting the criteria, the process is simple. Your Physician must attest to the amount of time you or your family member will need for the medical condition and sign the form.
You must return the form to Carol Gray in our union headquarters office who will submit your request to the state and answer any questions you have about this benefit. Email Carol Gray . Her telephone number is 586-2334.
You can email me at Liam.Carnahan@alaska.gov if you have any questions.
I hope none of you ever have to use these hours but I wanted to let everyone know that they are available.
Liam Carnahan, President
Local 4900 Supervisory Unit
