March 30, 2022 Update: The transition date for the City of New York Retiree plan is no longer April 1, 2022. Please read the most recent communication about the retiree transition.

This is an update to a prior communication about upcoming City of New York retiree plan changes posted October 28, 2021. 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) wants to share with our network providers an update for the City of New York Retirees. Effective April 1, 2022, more than 200,000 Medicare-eligible City of New York retirees will transition to the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan.  

The NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan is a Medicare Advantage PPO group retiree offering through an alliance between Empire BlueCross BlueShield (Empire) and EmblemHealth. The plan allows retirees to visit any doctor nationally that accepts Medicare while ensuring the provider gets paid their negotiated contractual rate or 100% of the Medicare allowed rate if non-contracted (less any member copay).    

For your convenience, we are including a letter with more details about the plan update (PDF). Additionally, you can view a sample NYC Medicare Advantage ID card for reference.