General Information

• Familiarize yourself with the entire booklets.
  
• Application must be made for all Benefits.
  
• The Fund Office should be aware of all your pertinent information including your current address, contact information, marital status, and dependents.
  
• Keep your Benefit beneficiary designations up-to-date.
  
• All claim forms must be completed and submitted in a timely manner. Due to space and time limitations, incomplete or incorrect forms will be returned and/or denied or returned, and must be resubmitted once completed. Forms received after cut-off will be included in the batch for the following cycle. 
• At no time will any personal information be given out from the Fund offices without your written authorization. That includes, but is not limited to such items as accrued Pension benefits, Annuity balances, or any Health information. Authorized parties include the Trustees (as needed), Funds staff, Plan professionals (as needed), government agencies (under QMSCO, QDRO, etc.), and authorized services associates (medical insurers as noted in HIPAA specific documentation). Spouses, family members, third-party representatives, and Union personnel must be specifically named prior to any release of information.
• The Fund office, and now both the Union and JATC offices, are able to sign any member up on the ERTS (electronic reciprocal transmission system). It is advisable that you sign up whether you intend to travel out of the 236 jurisdiction or not, but it is required that you be registered on ERTS in order for you to work on any other jurisdiction. Once signed up, you can edit your information and fund(s) designations yourself. In the future, you may also be able to track the remitance of your benefits to your home local by using the system.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FUND

The I.B.E.W. Local 236 Health and Benefit Fund is a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA), which is a modified personal account plan. For each hour you work in covered employment, employer Health and Benefit Fund contributions will be made to the non-taxable, medical expenses only HRA Plan. This determination may change from time to time contingent upon the financial requirements of the whole Fund and changes in applicable determinations by agencies governing this type of Fund. The Trustees will determine the portion of the contributions that will be credited to your personal account. Currently,  $7.51 of the total contribution of $7.86 of such contributions are credited to a personal account for you. The remainder is utilized to help offset a portion of the disability and life insurance (group benefit programs) provided under the plan.

Once you satisfy the general eligibility requirements, you will be a participant in the Fund.

Your HRA account will grow with the contributions that are made to it in the future. Your account will be decreased by any Benefit distribution or administration charge. Any charges to your account are limited to the costs of your health coverages under the Plan, and any disbursements are limited to the unreimbursed medical expense for which you are liable.

No more will be paid out to you (or your beneficiary) under this Plan than has come into your personal account by way of contributions to the Fund made on your behalf by participating employers(which are based upon your work hours) plus any special allocations that may be given.

Once your account is reduced to zero or to an amount which is less than your monthly Insurance Benefit premium, you will stop being a participant in this Fund unless your account is credited with a special allocation or you elect to self-pay (COBRA)

Special Allocations.  

In addition to employer contributions received based on your covered work, your account may grow in other ways. These are called "Special allocations" which are explained in Section VI of the Summary Plan Description (SPD). A complete copy of the SPD is available at the Fund office, which addresses all parts of the Fund in its entirety.

Please click on the address shown to download forms and rates:  http://ibew236funds.com/pdf 

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