October 19th through November 16th, 2023. Benefit elections take effect January 1, 2024.

Health/Medical: SDPOA/ALADS offers HMO medical coverage through Anthem Blue Cross, which includes: prescription, chiropractic and body scan benefits. Mental Health and Substance Abuse benefits are provided by the Holman Group. The Body Scan benefit is administered by Body Scan International.

Dental: We also offer the Premier PPO Dental and orthodontia plan through Anthem Blue Cross.

Vision: Complete vision coverage, through Vision Service Plan (VSP) is also included in the HMO medical plans.

“HMO” means Health Maintenance Organization. An HMO is a prepaid healthcare plan that offers members a variety of comprehensive healthcare services available from a specific group of contracted hospitals and medical professionals.

If you elect HMO medical coverage, your non-emergency care is managed by a Primary Care Physician (PCP); Specialty care requires a referral from your PCP. You are generally limited to seeing only providers contracted with the HMO. Most Anthem Blue Cross HMO services have no or very limited out-of-pocket cost to the member.

If you are eligible to enroll in an SDPOA/ALADS sponsored medical and dental plan, your eligible dependents may also enroll. Your eligible dependents include:

• Your legal spouse/domestic partner
• Any dependent children up to the age of 26 (biological children, step-children, adopted children, and children of domestic partner)
• Unmarried children over the age of 26 with disabillities
  • Requests must be made 60 days prior to dependent's 26th birthday.  Will require review and approval from carrier.

Employees must use the City’s Employee Self-Service (ESS) to change their address and can only use a City computer. Once the change is made, the City of San Diego will send the updated information to the Benefit Service Center and we will update Anthem Blue Cross.

The SDPOA/ALADS Benefit Service Center. Please call us at (800) 842-6635 or (818) 678-0040.

Includes coverage for a 3-dimensional examination with physician consultation provided every 24 months for members and one dependent enrolled in an ALADS Anthem Blue Cross medical plan.  For more information, visit this link.

Log onto ALADS Anthem Site, click on Find a Doctor. At the next page, click on the link that best describes the type of provider you need: HMO medical or PPO dental providers.

You must call Anthem Blue Cross Customer Service Department at (800) 227-3771.

No. With a PPO dental plan you can see any licensed dentist or specialist. If you use a dentist from the PPO network, your out-of-pocket expenses will be lower.

You can call the SDPOA/ALADS Benefit Service Center (BSC) at (800) 842-6635 and request a replacement card.

Yes, vision coverage is provided through Vision Service Plan (VSP) and included with your Anthem Blue Cross benefit plan enrollment.  For coverage information about exams, frames, and corrective lenses, please register online at vsp.com to download a member reference card.  You may also provide your Anthem ID number (100-xxxxxx) to your vision provider.

Once you are eligible, you can register online at VSP Online, using first and last name of the employee and your Anthem Blue Cross ID number (without the letters, 100-xxxxxx), and print out a member reference card.

You can go to the VSP website or call (800) 438-4559. VSP Member Services is available Monday-Friday from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm, Pacific Time and Saturdays from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm, Pacific Time.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism, such as a verification code sent to an email address or phone after providing the username and password. This decreases the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.

To make changes to your MFA settings on this site:

1. Log in and go to your 'My Profile' tab.
2. Click the pencil next to 'User Email' and 'User Phone' to edit your email address and phone number.
3. Click 'Edit Security Info' to enable/disable MFA and manage other security settings.

1. Click on the following link mybenefitchoices.com/SDPOA
2. Click on the grey “Not registered? Click here to register as a new user” button.
3. You will need the following to register:
   • Employee # 6 digits required - if needed add leading '0'
     Dependents use Employee # of Primary Subscriber
     If unsure of number to use, please check your Anthem Blue Cross ID card and use the last 6 numbers 'Member ID XDM000XXXXXX'
   • Last 4 of your Social Security Number
   • Create a Username
   • Create Password
   • Email (you will need to have access to it in order to activate your account)
4. Confirm your registration - You will receive a system generated account activation email (to the email that you registered with). Click on the link to confirm your registration. The link will take you to the “log in” screen.
5. Log in to the secure benefits website using the user name and password that you just created.

1. When logged in, click on the 'My Documents' tab on the top of the screen.
2. If you have any missing documents to submit, there will be a 'Pending/Missing Documents' section listing what you are missing.
3. In the 'Upload Document' section, click the dropdown menu and select which document you wish to submit.
   • If your document is not listed, select 'Unlisted Document'.
4. Select the file you are uploading from your computer.
   • Allowed files extensions: PDF, BMP, GIF, PNG, JPG.
   • File size limit: 20MB.
5. Click 'Upload' to submit the file.
6. If there are no problems, you will get a message saying the file was uploaded successfully and the document will be marked pending.
7. It may take at least 2 business days for a Benefit Specialist to review your submitted documents and accept/deny them.
8. If the document is denied, the pending status will go away and the file will remain in the 'Pending/Missing Documents' section. If the file is accepted, it will move to the 'Received Documents' section.

If your question is not listed here, or if you need personalized assistance, please call the ALADS Benefit Service Center (BSC) at (800) 842-6635 or (818) 678-0040, Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. We are closed from 12:00 pm to 12:45 pm for lunch.

You may also fax questions to (818) 477-1329 or send an email to BSC at sdpoa@mybenefitchoices.com

The Anthem Blue Cross website is also a wonderful resource for health and wellness information. You can find this information by going to the Anthem Blue Cross ALADS microsite at www.anthem.com/ca .