As we approach April 30, the end of the enrollment period for our new dental plan with HealthPartners for existing Senior Federation members, we have some reminders or new items to announce, including:

• A great, no-additional-cost perk that comes with the dental plans. Enrollees also receive great discounts on vision products through a program called “EyeMed Vision Care,” including: 
  - Bifocal plastic lenses at $70
  - Eyeglass frames at 35 percent off retail price
  - Conventional contact lenses at 15 percent off retail price
  - Lasik or PRK vision correction at 15 percent off retail price or 5 percent off a promotional price.
• Many more vision items carry significant savings. Call HealthPartners for details and a brochure at the number at the end of this article. Savings under this program are available at LensCrafters, Sears Optical, Target Optical, Pearle Vision, JC Penney Optical and other retailers.
• For those who use the internet, we have our own MnSF page on the HealthPartners website: www.healthpartners.com/mnsf. You can look at the benefits of our three plans, read details of benefit limitations, and download a copy of the application to enroll. And the best feature is that you can look for a participating dentist near you. If you live in Greater Minnesota you will have to use a dentist listed in the Open Access network (who may also be listed in St. Cloud or the Twin Cities metro). Click on “Find a dentist” or “Find a clinic” under “HealthPartners Dental Open Access” in the “Compare Your Networks” section. Use  your zip code, the mileage you want to travel, and the specialty of the dentist for a list of participating dentists in the Open Access network. If you live in the Twin Cities Metro or St. Cloud, you can also look up dentists in one of the 15 Health Partners Dental Clinics. See the accompanying list of clinics in this newspaper. 
• If you don’t have internet access, call Health Partners or the Health Plan Information center at the Senior Federation to find a dentist.
• Note that our Dental Program will not be available to people under 50 years of age as previously announced. People under age 50 are welcome to be members of the Senior Federation and use our other member benefits, but the dental plans are not included in member benefits for those members under age 50. We apologize that we did not previously have the correct information about this age limit.

Additional time to enroll for new Federation members

If you became a member of the Senior Federation after Feb. 1, 2007, you have additional time to enroll: New members have 90 days after their Senior Federation membership start date to enroll in the new dental plan. However, if you were a Minnesota Senior Federation member before Feb. 1, you must enroll in the dental plan by April 30. Existing MnSF members may not have another opportunity to enroll in this plan until July 2009, and possibly later (unless you want to enroll right after losing dental coverage that you lost through no fault of your own).

Eligibility requirements are that you must be a Minnesota resident who is also an MnSF member at least 50 years old. You also must have medical insurance (Medicare counts as medical insurance).

Choosing one of the three plans

To clear up any confusion about premiums for the three dental plans, it’s best to ignore the “out-of-network” coverage column in the enrollment materials when you first start planning. “Out of network” means no network at all and does not affect your premium, only the percentage of coverage you would get. It’s for members who might visit a dentist in either the Health Partners clinics or Open Access Network. So when choosing a plan, look only at the type of services you want and the network choice to determine your monthly premiums. In other words, the combination of type of plan plus network choice will determine your monthly premium. 

For answers to additional questions or to request an application, call HealthPartners at 952/883-5600 or 800/247-7015, and choose “2” for the Individual Sales Department. Existing members should remember to sign up by April 30!