Health & Welfare Fund

 

View the Boston Teachers Union Health & Welfare Fund Booklet 

 

The Board of Trustees of your Health and Welfare Fund provides you with a generous and valuable package of benefits. Your health and well-being are important to us, and that’s why we designed the Fund’s health and welfare benefits to supplement your City of Boston medical plan coverage, giving you outstanding health benefits.

 

The benefits provided by the Boston Teachers Union Health and Welfare Fund are funded by contributions from The Boston School Department.

Invis
Dental Benefit

Your Plans cover:

  • A semi-annual dental exam
  • X-Rays as required
  • Semi-annual cleanings
  • Dental services (other than orthodontia), up to a maximum of $2,400 per year
  • Orthodontia – for adults and children, up to a lifetime maximum benefit of $3,000
  • There is also a separate annual maximum of $1,500 per person for covered implant procedures only. To your benefit, implant-related procedures (abutments and crown) will be applied toward the overall annual maximum amount.

Effective for dental treatment initiated on or after February 1, 2015, the Trustees of the Boston Teachers Union Health and Welfare Fund are pleased to announce key improvements in your dental program:

  • Access to more dentists every time you receive care; and
  • You no longer need to select a plan.

The administration of the dental plans offered by the Fund will be consolidated with Delta Dental of Massachusetts. When you receive care, you can select a dentist from the three existing networks: Delta Dental Premier, Delta Dental PPO, or the Harvard Faculty Group Practice. There will no longer be an open enrollment each year; previously, you had to elect either Delta Dental PPO Plus Premier (the “Standard Plan”) or the Harvard Faculty Group Practice Plan (“the Harvard Plan”) as your dental plan for each year beginning September 1st.

Delta Dental PPO Plus Premier

Delta Dental PPO Plus Premier is comprised of the Delta Dental PPO and Delta Dental Premier networks. Approximately 96% of Massachusetts’ dentists participate in the Delta Dental Premier network. Fewer dentists (about 20% of Massachusetts’ dentists) participate in the Delta Dental PPO network, but, for patients, the out-of-pocket payment is lower because those dentists reduce their normal fees by 20-30% for Delta Dental PPO members.

The Fund payment is the same for each Delta Dental network, but the dentist’s charges are different. You pay the difference between the Fund payment and the dentist’s negotiated fee.

The current Schedule of Covered Dental Procedures if you receive treatment from a Delta Dental PPO Plus Premier dentist is available by clicking here. The Schedule is also available at the Fund Office.

When you need dental care and if you need to know if your dentist is part of the Delta Dental PPO network or Delta Dental Premier network, you can: (1) call your dentist and ask, (2) call Delta Dental’s Customer Service Department at (800) 872-0500, or (3) visit Delta’s website at www.deltadentalma.com.

Out-of-Network Care

If you receive dental care from a dentist that does not participate in either Delta Dental PPO Plus Premier or the Fund’s Harvard Dental Center plan, the Fund’s payment will be less than the amount that would have been paid had you received treatment from a participating dentist.

For all claims with dates of service on and after February 1, 2015, if your dentist does not have an agreement with Delta Dental or the Harvard Dental Center (a non-participating dentist), ask the dentist to file a claim with Delta Dental. If you prefer to file the claim, you must submit a completed claim form along with the original itemized bill and mail to Delta Dental of Massachusetts, P.O. Box 249, Thiensville, WI 53092. Claim forms are available on www.deltadentalma.com, or by calling the appropriate number: Delta Dental Customer Service department: Metropolitan Boston, (617) 886-1234; Massachusetts (toll free), 1-800-872-0500 and at Fund Office, (617) 288-0500.

Eye Care Benefits

The eye care benefits provided by your Health and Welfare Fund are available exclusively at our own, private Eye Care Center. The Eye Care Center is located within the Boston Teachers Union Building, off of Day Boulevard in Dorchester. We are located a short walk from the MBTA Red-Line JFK / UMASS station, and we have ample free parking at the BTU building.

For information about your eye care benefits please click on one of the following:

Hospitalization Income Supplement Benefit

Read More

View the Hospitalization Income Supplement Benefit Form

(For Covered Teachers Only)

If a Covered Teacher is confined to a hospital because of illness or injury for three or more consecutive days, the Covered Teacher can receive the Hospitalization Income Supplement benefit beginning with the third day of hospitalization.

This benefit is payable up to 52 weeks for each hospital stay, as long as the member remains eligible.

The amount of the Income Supplement is as follows:

 

Consecutive Days                              Amount

   In a Hospital                                    of Benefit                           

 

        0 – 2                                                  None

        3 – 6                                                   $75

       7 – 13                                                $150

     14 – 20                                                $300

21 – 27 etc.                                         $450 etc.

 

If you are confined to the hospital for three or more consecutive days, obtain a claim form from the Fund Office or print from the attachment on line. You need not wait until you are discharged from the hospital to print or request your claim form, although you should not submit the claim until you are discharged.  

Instructions

Please complete the Claim Form in its entirety but only complete the block at the top of the Hospital Verification Form.

Return both forms to us. We’ll take care of contacting the hospital involved in each case and we also verify your “Covered Teacher” status.

Obviously, the sooner you mail us back the forms, the sooner we can proceed with our part. Please do not divert from this procedure as it can only delay your benefit.

Also, the Internal Revenue Service has determined that this type of benefit represents taxable income. You should then, report the income on your income tax form for the year in which the benefit is received.

Hearing Aid Benefit
Funeral Expense Benefit

Read More

View & Print the Application for Funeral Expense Benefit

Instructions

If you have paid the funeral expenses of a Covered Teacher who has recently passed away, you may be eligible to make application for the benefit.

In the event that funeral expenses are incurred as a result of the death of a person who is a Covered Teacher at the time of his/her death, the Fund will pay a funeral expense benefit equal to the amount of such expense, but not exceeding four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500).

The Fund will make payment of this funeral expense benefit to the estate of the Covered Teacher or to a person equitably entitled thereto, in the opinion of the Trustees, upon satisfactory proof of payment of such expense.

If you wish to apply for the benefit, please complete the application and return it with a copy of the death certificate and receipt of bills. Please feel free to call if you have any questions.

Deceased Member Benefits

Sources of Benefits to Deceased BTU Members/City Employees

The Retirement Board
City Hall
Telephone #: (617) 635-4311

The “Small Retirement Fund”, c/o Jim Kennan
P.O. Box 33
Dorchester, MA 02122
Telephone #: (617) 624-6748

With his/her Group Health Insurance 
City Hall, Boston
Telephone #: (617) 635-4570

To research whether they had annuity or other savings deductions made, contact the Payroll Department of the Treasurer’s Office
City Hall
Telephone #: (617) 635-4151

You have probably already approached the BTU Paraprofessional Health & Welfare Office 
Telephone #: (617) 288-5883, relative to funeral expense benefits

Also check with the Tremont Credit Union to see if person had any accounts with them
Telephone #: (781) 843-5626

Check with the Boston School Department, Office of Human Resources to see if there was any time left in sick-bank
Telephone #: (617) 635-9600

Other Benefits

Recreational Benefit

(Teachers only)

Get your exercise by playing for the Fund’s Softball League or participating in the Fun Run.