BUFFALO

HEALTH INSURANCE AND BENEFITS FOR TRADEMEN ARE OPTIONAL. 

To establish your health insurance benefits, you must complete and submit the Health Insurance Enrollment forms with supporting documents (if applicable) to the Benefits Office within 30 days of your hire date.

1. Health Insurance Enrollment Form

• You must enroll within 30 days of your start date.

• If you do not enroll within this window, you must wait until Open Enrollment (November) or experience a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) to enroll.

• Important: Plan changes are only allowed during Open Enrollment.

2. Non-Payment Acknowledgement

3. Employee Notification Acknowledgement

• Required form

4. Tradesmen Health Insurance Requirements and Guidelines

Failure to submit all required forms—completed in full and with supporting documentation—will result in processing delays.

Additional Benefits available to you

The additional benefits below are available to you as a BPS staff member:

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

• Employee Wellness

Optional Benefits

You may also choose to enroll in the following:

• Pre-Tax Retirement Savings: 403(b) and/or 457(b)

Additional details on these benefits are provided below.

Health Insurance Effective Date

• Coverage begins on your hire date if enrollment forms are submitted within 30 days.

• If you do not enroll within 30 days of hire, you must wait until Open Enrollment (November) or experience a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) to enroll.

PLAN B 204/204 Plus Point of Service (POS) Insurance

A point-of-service (POS) plan requires you to select an in-network primary care physician (PCP). Referrals from your PCP may be needed for specialist care for you or your dependents. The plan does cover out-of-network services; however, you will be responsible for a deductible and coinsurance.

For details on covered services and equipment, review the Plan B Medical Document and the Plan B Prescription Document. To view a summary of the plan, see the Summary Of Benefits.

You can enroll in either single or family coverage. Refer to the eligibility guidelines to determine who qualifies as a dependent under family coverage.

Provider Network - To confirm whether a provider participates in the Highmark of WNY network, visit the WNY Network website

Employees shall contribute to health insurance at a rate of 100% of the cost of the premium.  You have two options for your contributions and must submit the Tradesmen Health Insurance Requirements and Guidelines form to select your option.

• Bi-weekly, pre-tax from your paycheck, or

• Submit payment post-tax  

Should you select post-tax payments, you must also complete and submit the Non-Payment Acknowledgement form.

Checks are to be mailed to:

CITY OF BUFFALO/BPS
PO BOX 185
ALBANY NY 12201-5695

PLAN B - POINT OF SERVICE 204

Your application will be processed when your appointment is approved by the Board and all completed paperwork and required documentation is received in the Benefits Office.

For more information and to access enrollment, please click below.

The District offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that provides free and confidential support for employees and their family members facing personal or work-related challenges. We encourage all staff to take advantage of this valuable resource.

For more information about the EAP, please click below.

In June 2017, the Buffalo Board of Education approved the District Wellness Policy.  The District recognizes that in order to achieve student wellness, well-being and academic success employee wellness must also be stressed, emphasizing the importance of creating a District-wide workplace culture that supports employee health and wellness.