I have talked with the CSRs on this and reimbursement is going to be the equivalent to what we had on VIA, A Recurring Premium Expense, e.g., Medicare Social Security deduction or other or similar monthly-like deductions. Also, a Claim for Reimbursement for non-recurring type medical expenses, e.g., co-pays, prescriptions, etc.? Keep in mind, this is for those on the Essential plan. Those on the Enhanced plan will only have access to the one-time credit.
As for SHAP, the program is still available, but as Henry pointed out, it is administered by Acclaris. This past year, Acclaris processed the SHAP claims, but I believe IBM had VIA make the payment (they had some kind of tie-in per a letter IBM sent retirees last year). I sent my SHAP claim in to Acclaris and received payment. You still have to hold off claiming any reimbursement for the SS Medicare deduction from the subsidy until you filed and received your SHAP reimbursement. When I was with VIA, I claimed the VIA Premium Reimbursement for my wife and filed the SHAP claim for myself so I didn't have to wait for reimbursement for her monthly SS deduction. At the end of the year, if there was still any money left in my VIA subsidy, I could file my SS Medicare deductions minus the $900 I received from SHAP. This will still work the same way as was explained to me.
As far as I can see, the process is going to be very similar to how it worked with VIA, but one difference is reimbursements will come from UHC's Optum Bank. I had to submit a Direct deposit request to them and sent it via e-mail. Also, UHC forms are different than the VIA forms. I just completed my Direct Deposit earlier with Optum Bank. I had submitted it over the weekend via e-mail instead of snail mail (like I did with VIA). I received a reply telling me I had to go through a verification process because I used e-mail rather than snail mail. To verify, they send 2 small amounts (a few cents) to your direct deposit account and then reclaim them. It can take up to three business days. You check your account to see what they are and then enter these amounts in the "Verify" process. So if you go this route, the verification process is not going to be immediate. Now that is set up, I will be submitting a "Premium Reimbursement Claim" for my wife's monthly SS Medicare deduction. I will specify they take it out of the "annual IBM subsidy" rather than the one-time credit (which I will end up using for a dental procedure not covered (fully) by the UHC dental coverage).
