IMPORTANT NOTICE: Medicare Enrollment Responsibilities and YOU

November 19, 2014

If you and/or your covered dependents are eligible for Medicare, or become eligible for Medicare, and your current Fund eligibility is not based upon your (or a family member’s) bank hours, please note that Medicare will have the primary responsibility for your claims. Because of this, the NYCDCC Welfare Fund will have secondary responsibility. This means you and/or your covered dependents must be enrolled in both Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B as soon as Medicare coverage becomes available. If you and/or your covered dependents are eligible for Medicare, but are not enrolled in both Part A and Part B, your Fund benefits will be limited to secondary responsibility. As a result, your benefits will be less than expected and you will be subject to higher out-of-pocket costs.

The reason for this notice centers on the fact that some Medicare eligible NYCDCC retirees and/or covered dependents are not enrolled in Part B. To those who this applies to, this must be corrected because the Fund requires that Medicare eligible participants be enrolled in both Part A and Part B.

With that in mind, all those who are eligible for Medicare but are currently not enrolled in Part B, should enroll immediately. For 2014, Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period is October 15^th to December 7^th, so now is the time to act.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact our Member Services Department at (800) 529-FUND (3863) or (212) 366-7373. You can also contact Medicare directly by using their website (www.medicare.gov), or calling (800) 633-4227.