Attention: Married Couples at North Shore-LIJ

Being that North Shore-LIJ is the largest employer in the region, it's no wonder there are a number of married couples in the health system. If  and your spouse both work within the health system and are also non-union and benefits-eligible you need to be aware of the new requirement for benefits enrollment in 2014.

New for 2014 Open Enrollment: The spouse who is categorized in the higher benefit group (Group 1A being the highest) will now be responsible for electing coverage for themselves, or for themselves and their dependents.

For example: Mary works as an administrative assistant in IT (putting her in Benefit Group 3) and her husband, Larry is a physician on staff at North Shore University Hospital (putting him in Benefit Group 1A). Mary has always been responsible for electing benefits for herself, her husband and their two children. With this change in the enrollment process, Larry will now be responsible for electing coverage due to his higher benefit group.
For consideration in this case: Mary can continue to claim herself and two children. Since she chooses the Value Plan and completes all four Wellness Pledges her cost for benefits will remain at $0. Larry can cover himself as single, under Benefit Group 1A.

Benefit Group 3 generally refers to staff-level employees
Benefit Group 2 generally refers to manager-level employees
Benefit Group 1 generally refers to directors and assistant vice presidents
Benefit Group 1A generally refers to executives (above the AVP level) and physicians
Benefit Group 1A is considered the highest level of the Groups 

North Shore-LIJ feels this change in enrollment is in alignment with the compensation or its employees.

Protect Your Eyes All Year Round

It’s important to protect your eyes not just during the summer months but all year round. Medical studies have increasingly tied chronic exposure to UV and near-UV rays to ocular diseases. Although the sun may be the strongest during the summer months (particularly between the hours of 10am and 4pm) reflective surfaces, such as concrete, ice and snow can also contribute to UV damage.

The experts at Davis Vision recommend a quality pair of prescription or non-prescription sunglasses that:

• Block 99-100% of UVA and UVB rays
• Block blue light rays
• Contain large lenses that fit close to your eyes

Davis Vision (of Long Island) and Empire Vision Centers (of Upstate New York) will be renovated and rebranded under the name Visionworks at the end of this year. Visionworks remains the largest owned and operated optical company in the U.S., offering over 2,000 frames at each store location. More to come.