Starting January 1, 2022, OptiFlex groups will now be eligible for the Yukon® Network. This means employers will get the Yukon network as they renew into 2022 unless they advise the account manager otherwise.
About the Yukon Network
In Alaska, charges for dialysis for self-insured plans are the highest in the country. The annual exposure for a single case exceeds $1M. Members are not required to enroll in Medicare, but if they do, self-funded employers are required to cover services
for the first 30 months until Medicare becomes the primary payer. However, if members do not enroll in Medicare, the employer must continue to cover services. For most Premera employer plans, dialysis costs are unanticipated, and employers are not
prepared for the $1M+ financial impact.
To help our employer groups reduce expenses, we created the Yukon Network. This network excludes dialysis providers that are not competitively priced, which helps lower expenses for self-funded employers with members who require dialysis prior to qualifying
for Medicare. After the initial 90 days, if the member enrolls in Medicare, Medicare pays as secondary, but the member still qualifies for Medicare.