Open Enrollment – Time To Review Insurance Benefits
Time for DC’s officers and staff to review and make changes to insurance for the next year – you have from today through November 14th to do so. From Department of Management Services:
Attention State of Florida Employees:
You have the chance to make any insurance changes you want only once each year, and the time to take action is NOW!
Open Enrollment started Monday, November 7, at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and ends November 18 at 6 p.m. EST.
You should have received your Open Enrollment benefits package by now. If not, please log in to People First to see your current benefits. You need to be sure that the plans you’re enrolled in for 2012 are correct. Due to federal law, once Open Enrollment ends you can only change your enrollment with a qualifying event (e.g., marriage, divorce, child birth, employment status change). Also check coverage levels and verify that only eligible dependents are covered. Here’s how to see what you’ve got today and to make changes for next year.
Remember these changes for 2012:
- Medco will be the pharmacy manager for all health plans (except Medicare Advantage plans). If you enroll in a health plan, you’ll get your Medco ID card in the mail in December. You must show that ID card the first time you get a prescription starting January 1, 2012.
- HMO choices and service areas have changed. If your current HMO will no longer be available, you’ve been automatically enrolled in a different health plan for 2012:
- If you’re eligible for only one HMO, you are enrolled in the HMO contracted for your county.
- If you’re eligible for more than one HMO, you are enrolled in the PPO plan.
To make a change to your health insurance or any other State Group Insurance plan, log in to People First before 6 p.m. EST, November 18.
Finally, follow these easy steps to have a successful Open Enrollment:
- Visit myflorida.com/mybenefits for more 2012 plan year information and to read the Benefits Guide for 2012.
- Call the insurance companies directly if you have questions about the plans.
- Make changes online in People First to avoid call wait times.
- For other questions, call People First weekdays from 8 a.m. EST to 6 p.m. EST at (866) 663-4735. TTY users can call (866) 221-0268.
Thanks for taking time and action this year to make the best decisions possible for 2012.
Department of Management Services
Department of Corrections Launches Online Community Resource Guide
Former inmates and offenders on supervision now have an online one-stop-shop to help them connect with more than 2,000 community resources ranging from medical to career counseling to housing to substance abuse treatment and many others.
The Florida Department of Corrections launched its Re-entry Resource Directory on October 18, 2011 at www.dc.state.fl.us/resourcedirectory. This searchable, user-friendly website can produce lists of community resources by zip code, city, county or judicial circuit. It is available to not just inmates and offenders, but the general public as well.
“Our goal is to keep Floridians safe by providing programs and resources that ultimately reduce recidivism and victimization. When ex-offenders have access to resources and can get the help they need to become productive members of the community, they’re less likely to return to prison,” said Department of Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker.
Inmates who are being released will be notified by their classification officers that this resource is available, and probation officers will tell offenders on their caseloads about it. Ex-inmates and offenders without computers or internet connections can access the resource list by phone at (850) 717-3173. The database is continually being updated.
Community providers who would like to include their services in the database should send a form found at www.dc.state.fl.us/resourcedirectory to DC.ResourceDirectory@mail.dc.state.fl.us or fax it to (850) 922-2238.
Each year, approximately 35,000 inmates are released from prison, and there are currently approximately 150,000 offenders on community supervision. About 88 percent of those in Florida prison are eventually released.
Department of Corrections and Corrections Foundation Launches “Computers for Kids”
Inmates at two Florida prisons will be refurbishing donated computers to be given to non profit organizations that serve children, including schools, religious organizations and community programs. The “Computers for Kids” program is the Department’s latest re-entry program, designed to provide meaningful job training to inmates to better prepare them for employment upon release, and refurbished, fully-functioning computers to non-profit, child-centered organizations. The recipient organizations must have 501(c)3 status.
“This is one of those win-win situations,” said Secretary Buss. “The kids get a free computer that may have otherwise ended up in a landfill, while inmates learn a useful trade that will provide them employment opportunities upon release.”
The Florida Department of Corrections has partnered with the non profit Corrections Foundation to start the program at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell and Cross City Correctional Institution in Dixie County. Inmates will be trained by the Bureau of Re-Entry Programs and Education instructors.
The computers that will be accepted for donation must meet certain standards – Pentium 4 with a minimum 512 MB of memory; Macs –Performa, Centris, Power Mac, or G3 and up, servers with dual-core Xeon processors with a minimum 2 GB of memory and a CD/DVD drive. Laser printers will also be accepted. Peripherals in working condition will be accepted: color monitors, keyboards, mice, power and monitor cables, and CD/DVD drives, network cards, Pentium motherboards, RAM SIMMS, 120+ GB hard drives.
Anyone interested in making or receiving donations may contact the Corrections Foundation at 850-717-3712. The Corrections Foundation will be responsible for reviewing and awarding computers to organizations that request them.
Currently, Florida inmates do not have access to computers, unless as part of a vocational program, nor do they have internet access. A similar program was run by the Department from 1999-2006, during which 7,000 computers were distributed to child-centered organizations.
Press Clip: Slain Fla. officer’s family receives $45,950
Slain Fla. officer’s family receives $45,950
Posted: Updated:
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) – The Florida Corrections Foundation has presented check for $45,950 to the family of a slain prison officer.
Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss and other officials traveled to DeFuniak Springs on Monday for the presentation.
Forty-4-year-old Col. Greg Malloy was killed in an exchange of gunfire with a double homicide suspect in February.
The suspect, Wade Williams, also was killed in the shootout near the Florida Panhandle hamlet of Gritney.
Malloy was working as part of a dog tracking team from Holmes Correctional Institution at the time.
Authorities had been looking for Williams in connection with the killings of his parents in Cottondale.
Check Presented to Family of DOC Colonel Killed in the Line of Duty
On Wednesday, June 22, Department of Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss, Northern Regional Director Tim Cannon, former Secretary Louie L. Wainwright, and Corrections Foundation Executive Director Chris Akins traveled to Defuniak Springs to present a check for $45,950 to the family of Colonel Greg Malloy, who died in the line of duty on February 2, 2011.
The money was raised through fundraisers and donations from Florida Department of Corrections staff throughout the state, and with administrative support from the Corrections Foundation, a Direct Support Organization.
“They are amazing people,” said Secretary Buss of Colonel Malloy’s family and friends. “We spent a couple hours together and they told me great stories about the Colonel.”
Correctional Officer Colonel Greg Malloy, 44, was mortally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with a suspect in a double homicide. Malloy was working as part of the Holmes Correctional Institution K-9 tracking team at the time. The suspect, Wade Williams, was killed during the exchange.
Malloy had been with the Department since 1988. His name has been etched into the DOC’s Memorial to Fallen Officers near Wakulla Correctional Institution.
WCTV’s Art Myers Goes Behind Bars at Jefferson CI to “Do Your Job!”
What better way to let the people who we serve and protect know what it’s like to work in a prison, than to send a reporter in to see for himself—and that’s exactly what happened this week at Jefferson CI.
Corrections Officer Sergeant Gary Williams invited TV Reporter Art Myers to see for himself what prison work and prison life is all about. It was a real, and positive, eye-opener for the reporter.
“It was a beautiful day to go to prison,” Myers told his WCTV audience. “As we pulled up at the Jefferson Correctional Institution we had no idea we were about to find something rare growing here in the Florida sunshine. Hope.”
To read a transcript of Meyers’ report, or to view the segment at home, visit WCTV’s site at the link below. It’s a good watch:
