Like many congregations, my parish suffers with money problems this year. Fortunately, Christ is Lord of the Church, and such things will pass.
One of the cost savings moves that we made this past year was to go from Concordia Plan B to the new Health Savings Account (HSA). This has been a good move for the church financially, and I think that it will work out fine for us financially in the end as well.
However, one of the things I figured out today is that the way mental health services is managed is different. In The Church’s Plan, as well as plans A,B, C & D, Concordia Plans uses CIGNA to manage their mental health care insurance requests, etc etc etc.
BUT, if you use either the HSA or the HRA plans that Concordia offers, they are now administered under Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
This has caused no end of confusion on the part of my doctor & counselor, and I hope to get it resolved soon. But I thought I would give y’all a heads up on this, as it may have some impact on you.
Anyone else having problems with mental health claims and concordia plans?
-DMR
With all the new changes in the plans, and as a former CSR with Concordia Plans when they were the Worker Benefit Plans (WBP), I'd suggest calling in and requesting your plan manual if you don't already have it. You can get a basic guideline on the Concordia Plans website under https://www.concordiaplans.org/DetailPage.aspx?ID=…
There have been so many changes that even those who are incredibly well-versed in the plans are easily confused. I shudder to think what it's like for everyone else. I still have a myriad of contacts there if you need them.
I pray things get ironed out quickly. Have a blessed Holy Week!