With Life 360, our focus is on providing different avenues to help you live well. Medical coverage is one of our most important benefits. We want to be sure you have a choice, so you can choose an option that works best for you and your family. While the Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP) option with its Health Savings Account (HSA) offers many advantages — such as encouraging smart health care choices and helping you save for future medical needs — it may not make the most sense for your current situation. That’s why we’ve added the PPO option.

The PPO offers a different way to pay for care. Your cost for coverage (premiums) is the same for both medical plan options, and so are the deductibles. But with the PPO, you’ll pay a set copay for in-network primary care physician, specialist and urgent care visits, as well as prescription drugs — without having to meet the deductible first. If you anticipate a number of doctor visits or have high prescription drug needs, this option may work really well for you.

The CDHP meets IRS requirements that allow you to fund a tax-advantaged HSA. Depending on your salary level, DallasNews Corporation also contributes to your HSA. You can use your HSA to help pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses and save for future expenses on a tax-free basis. However, except for preventive care, you must pay in full for your medical and prescription drug costs until you meet the annual deductible. If you don’t often need medical care or prescription drugs, or you are in a position to build up tax-free savings in the HSA, this option may be the best for you.

Both the PPO and CDHP options use the same BCBSTX Blue Choice PPO network of providers. Using the same network reduces administrative costs for DallasNews Corporation and therefore lowers the costs for all participants in the medical plans.

You can log on to the BCBSTX Web site at www.bcbstx.com/ahbelo and search the provider directory, or you may contact your physicians and ask if they participate in the BCBSTX Blue Choice PPO network.

With both medical options, you may use an out-of-network provider at any time. However, a separate deductible that is much higher than the regular deductible applies, and coverage is only provided at 50% of the BCBSTX allowable rate.

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