Associate Member Fee Eliminated as of April 1, 2007

The SAMBA Board of Directors approved the elimination of the Associate Member Fee, effective April 1, 2007. This fee had been charged to active and retired members who were not enrolled in the SAMBA Health Plan, but who were enrolled in one or more of SAMBAs other Group Plans (Life Insurance, Dental and Vision, etc).

Associate members who paid the Associate Member Fee as part of their SAMBA payroll allotment will be sent revised SAMBA Payroll Allotment Form 299s in March. These special pre-printed SAMBA payroll allotment forms should be signed immediately upon receipt and returned (mail or fax) to SAMBA by March 30, 2007. Any excess funds collected due to a members failure to return the revised payroll allotment form will be donated to charity.

Associate members who paid the Associate Member Fee as part of their monthly direct debit payment or quarterly bills need take no action to effect this change. SAMBA will automatically reduce the monthly direct debit amount or quarterly billed amount. 

Excess Pennies Eliminated as of April 1, 2007

This change affects only those members who pay their SAMBA premiums, excluding health insurance premiums, through payroll allotment. Treasury regulations no longer require payroll allotments to be in whole dollar amounts. Previously, if the total of the SAMBA premium was not a whole dollar, the amount was rounded up to the next whole dollar. The excess pennies collected as a result were used to purchase appropriate amounts of Personal Accident Insurance for the member.

SAMBA members affected by this change will be mailed revised SAMBA Payroll Allotment Form 299s in March which will reflect the elimination of the excess pennies charge. These special pre-printed SAMBA payroll allotment forms should be signed immediately upon receipt and returned (mail or fax) to SAMBA by March 30, 2007. Any excess pennies collected due to a members failure to return the revised payroll allotment form will be donated to charity.

Medco to Expand Use of Usual Daily Dose (UDD)

Starting February 20, 2007, Medco will use Usual Daily Dose (UDD) calculations to determine quantity dispensed and days supply duration for prescriptions written with physician directions such as use as directed or take as needed without a specific time interval. The purpose of this change in policy is to provide more uniform pharmacy practice standards and better dispensing precision. The use of UDD will affect new prescriptions and renewals, not refills. 

As a result of the increased use of UDD, members may receive different quantities of certain medications that they have in the past at mail order. Members will be notified of the change upon receipt of their medications with this message DESCR: Medication Adjustment. The amount of medication has been adjusted based on the current dosing guidelines.

NOTE: Not all members will be affected by this dispensing change. Those members whose prescriptions call for a specific amount of medication to be dispensed will not be impacted by Medcos enhanced dosing calculation methodology. It is only those members whose prescription does not specify a certain quantity to be dispensed who may notice a difference in the amount of medication they receive going forward. 

Medco will not contact a members prescriber before assigning a quantity to a prescription, unless there is a question relative to a patients health and safety. 

Ophthalmic products are not included in this enhancement. Medco expects to implement dosing calculation enhancements for ophthalmic products later in 2007. 

Please contact Medco at 800-283-3478 or SAMBA at 800-638-6589 with any questions about this new program.