Board Approves Health Care Plan Enhancements for 2024

The Retirement Board approved several changes to the STRS Ohio Health Care Program for 2024, including new premiums lowering the monthly cost for 99% of current plan enrollees. In addition, the board eliminated the in-network deductible for the Aetna Medicare Plan. In 2024, Aetna will become the plan administrator for all enrollees, and CVS Caremark will provide prescription coverage. An overview of the plan changes is provided below. Please watch for more coverage details in upcoming announcement letters and newsletters, as well as in your health care open-enrollment packet in late October.

Medical plan transitions to Aetna

• All Medical Mutual, AultCare, Paramount and Health Care Assistance Plan (HCAP) enrollees will be covered by Aetna in 2024. Current Aetna enrollees will remain in their current plan.
• The Aetna Medicare Plan is making several coverage improvements, including a $0 in-network annual deductible and $0 copay for in-network primary care physician visits.

Pharmacy plan transitions to CVS Caremark (CVS) from Express Scripts

• All enrollees will transition to CVS; the majority of enrollees should experience no disruption to their service. Those who may see a disruption (such as a change to a higher or lower tier in the drug formulary) will be notified by mid-December.
• The CVS network includes about 66,000 chain and independent pharmacies, including Kroger, and about 9,000 CVS pharmacies. (Enrollees can use any in-network pharmacy; they are not limited to CVS store locations.)
• There are no changes to the prescription annual deductible, maximum out-of-pocket limit or drug tier copayments/coinsurance.
• Medicare enrollees will be covered by SilverScript, a Medicare Part D plan. SilverScript is an affiliate of CVS. Non-Medicare enrollees will be covered by CVS Caremark.

Access to Providers

Aetna’s provider network includes nearly all the providers currently being utilized by Medical Mutual, AultCare and Paramount enrollees. The same is true for CVS’s network. It covers nearly all ESI pharmacies currently being accessed.

2024 Health Care Premiums

^*Health Care Assistance Program

A complete list of medical premiums is available here.