In the next few days, you will receive, at your house, a notice from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey that as of March 11, 2009 Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will no longer be a Horizon network hospital and on April 11, 2009, University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) will no longer be part of the Horizon network hospital. We wanted to give you further insight to this change.

For various reasons Horizon BCBSNJ will no longer offer these hospitals as part of the network hospitals. If you or a family member is currently receiving treatment at CHOP or a UPHS facility for a condition requiring continuous treatment or for pregnancy, which you believe will extend beyond the hospital’s four-month contract extension period, you can continue treatment as long as you contact Horizon BCBSNJ Member Services at the telephone number listed on the back of your ID cards, and Horizon agrees to authorize the ongoing care at the hospital.

To locate other hospitals that are in the network, visit Horizon's Website, www.HorizonBlue.com, and use the Provider Directory search tool.

In any event, we will, as always, be reviewing before open enrollment every alternative out there for you. We are aware that your health insurance is an important benefit to you and your family and that the cost of this is meaningful.  We will continue to make sure that we explore every possibility to control your costs and protect your family.

If you do have some questions, you can call the people you normally call at your company with your benefit-related questions.