Colleagues,
The NPS has announced their intention to change over from the State Health Benefits plan to a “NPS only plan” through AETNA for all Newark Public School Employees. The district claims that this change will allow them to save $9.8 million over the next 16 months. While we hesitate to trust any claim made by the district, if this is accurate, it would free up money that could prevent layoffs, etc, and this savings could mean members would be contributing less per month to their health benefits.
Our biggest concern at the moment is that this change could mean your current doctor(s) may not be covered as “in-network” if they do not accept AETNA. We will be having further meetings with the district and AETNA on this situation over the next few weeks, and we will report out to the membership as soon as we have more concrete information and analysis.
In solidarity,
John M. Abeigon
President/Director of Organization
Newark Teachers Union