Kaiser Permanente/Community Health Plan of New York (enrollment codes PW and QB) will be acquired and administered by Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP), enrollment code SG. CDPHP applied for and received approval for all counties within Kaiser Permanente/Community Health Plan's service area. The state of New York approved all of those counties except Clinton and Sullivan (PW) Counties, and Putnam (QB) County. CDPHP is therefore not authorized to operate a health plan in those counties.

Employees enrolled in these enrollment codes, who are located in Clinton, Sullivan, or Putnam County must transfer to another participating health plan in order to continue to receive benefits under the FEHB Program. The current open enrollment period ends on December 13, 1999, however, agencies are asked to apply this cutoff date liberally to allow employees to make their change. The effective date of the new coverage will be the first pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2000 (January 2 for most employees). Any employee who does not enroll in a new plan will have to travel to the plan's remaining service area to obtain benefits.

Kaiser will send its enrollees enrolled in codes PW and QB a letter advising them to make a change to a new plan. We have attached a copy of that letter for your information.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Clinton, Putnam, Sullivan

Kaiser Permanente/Community Health Plan of New York (codes PW and QB) will be acquired and administered by Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP). CDPHP applied for approval for all counties within Kaiser Permanente/Community Health Plan's service area. The State of New York approved all of those counties except Clinton (PW), Sullivan (PW) and Putnam (QB) Counties. Accordingly, CDPHP is not authorized to operate a health plan in those counties

To continue to receive benefits under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, you MUST transfer to another participating health plan during the current open season. You may want to contact your current providers to find out which health plans those providers participate with under the FEHB Program. You may then contact your servicing personnel office to enroll in one of those plans. If you do not change plans, you will have to travel to the service area to receive benefits.

Please contact your personnel office to obtain a 2000 Guide to Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans. You may request brochures directly from the health plans at the phone numbers appearing in the Guide. You may also visit our 2000 FEHB web site (www.opm.gov/insure) to view a plan's brochure or the FEHB Guide and obtain valuable information to help you choose a health plan.

IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYEE we strongly encourage you to take a copy of this letter to your personnel office immediately and enroll in a new plan. The effective date of the new coverage will the first day of the first full pay period in January (January 2 for most Federal employees).

IF YOU ARE AN ANNUITANT under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), you should call Open Season Express at 1-800-332-9798 or access Open Season Online at www.opm.gov/retire/fehb to make your enrollment change. Please have available your CSRS or FERS annuity claim number and your social security number when calling. If you are an annuitant of another Federal retirement system, you must contact that system for assistance. Coverage under your new health plan will begin on January 1, 2000.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation.

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