Health Insurance Program Invoices

From the Pension and Benefits Office

The various components of the Health Insurance Program are billed on a monthly basis starting for the current month due. Each component is separately identified on the invoice, addressed to the mailing address in our database for the church. The Districts are responsible for maintaining accurate church and clergy addresses in our database. Specific to the Health Insurance Program, there may be as many as four components. They are: 

• Retiree Subsidy Premium – Billed to every church in the conference as their share of the cost of providing subsidized health insurance to retired clergy of the Upper New York Conference.

• Pastor Premium – Billed to every charge that has a full time pastor. It may be split between churches in the charge. This amount is the church’s obligation.

• Pastor’s Personal Premium – Billed to churches where the pastor has enrolled in the health insurance plan. It is intended that this amount be withheld from the pastor’s salary for payment by the church. These dollars are considered part of gross salary, however the amount withheld is considered “pre-tax” and is not included on the W2.

• Flexible Spending Account – Billed when a pastor has elected to contribute to an account that will reimburse him/her for out-of-pocket medical expenses. The pastor should provide the amount elected to the Treasurer. These dollars should be withheld from the pastor’s salary for payment by the church to the Conference. These dollars are considered part of gross salary, however the amount withheld is considered “pre-tax” and is not included on the W2.

All of the above mentioned amounts are forwarded monthly by the Conference to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits for payment of our health insurance obligations and deposit, as appropriate, into pastors’ flexible spending accounts.

Retiree personal contributions to health insurance

As of January 2011, all retirees – with a very few exceptions – will be contributing toward the cost of their health insurance. Many are signed up to have that amount deducted from their monthly pension checks from the General Board. This is a very cost effective way to handle this expense. To do so, a form must be signed by the retiree, returned to the Benefits Office and then forwarded to the General Board prior to the 15th of the month for a start date of the following month. Forms can be obtained from Linda Houmiel at BenefitsOffice@unyumc.org.

If these contributions are not being made via pension check deduction, a monthly invoice will be mailed to the retiree. We can also make arrangements to have payments made electronically. Please contact the Benefits Office for more information on this option. 

Local Church Retiree Premium

Local churches are billed for their share of the conference cost for retiree health insurance.

In the former conferences, the costs of retiree health insurance was funded in a variety of ways: by contributions by the retirees, in a direct "ministry share" billing, a line item in the conference apportionment budget, and/or the use of reserves. The conference budget approved did not provide for the funding a retiree health insurance costs. 

Currently, in the Upper New York Annual Conference, retirees pay part of the cost and the balance comes from conference benefit reserve funds and a direct billing to local churches.  The total cost for retire health insurance in 2011 in the UpperNY Conference will be $3.2 million. The total amount of that to be directly billed to local churches is $800,000.

It should be noted that in future years, the direct bill share to local churches will likely increase because less reserve funds will be available. 

For Health and Church Insurance information and forms, click here

For Pension and Disability information and forms, click here