Stillwater Medical Center clarifies details for retired federal employees who have secondary Medicare coverage through BlueCross BlueShield

Feb. 2—Retired federal government employees with Medicare who use Blue Cross Blue Shield as secondary coverage have had many questions after the impact of a failed negotiation process with BCBS and Stillwater Medical Center. The biggest question is if their supplemental coverage will be affected.

According to SMC Public Relations Director Shyla Eggers, only federal retirees with Medicare who use the Basic Plan for secondary coverage will be affected. Federal retirees have two options to choose for health plan coverage.

One option is the Standard Plan. If federal retirees have chosen the Standard Plan they will not be impacted and do not have to be in network to use their Medicare supplement plan.

"This plan works like a traditional Medicare supplement covering the 20% co-insurance not paid by Medicare when you receive services at any Medicare participating provider," Eggers said.

The second option is the Basic Plan, which is a Medicare secondary coverage that works like a commercial BCBS plan.

"(This plan) requires the subscriber to stay within a participating BCBS Network of providers," Eggers said. "If you are covered by the Basic Plan I am happy to review your out-of-network benefits to help estimate how you may be impacted for any common services you may need," Eggers said.

She also noted that Medicare supplements purchased through medicare.gov or a local broker that are not associated with a former employer are not affected.

SMC has available resources to answer questions for those who have been impacted by the failed negotiation process with BCBS.

You can find information on common FAQs at stillwater-medical.org/bcbs-faq, leave a voice mail at the hotline 405-533-8833 or send a detailed email to questions@stillwater-medical.org.