2019 Open Enrollment

Due to a short plan year, the next open enrollment will be November 2020 for CY 2021.

This message below is for employees eligible for medical benefits in SY 2019/20

 This year the open enrollment period is from Monday 20 May through Thursday 6 June 2019.  Please take time to review this information on your healthcare options.  Open enrollment for active employees must be done using the Talent Ed Records (TED) portal.

              1. Because of the expense involved and the consequences of any mistake, all employees eligible for medical benefits must submit a benefit selection form annually -- even if there is no change or you decline coverage.  

              2.  If adding new coverage, you are required to upload your marriage certificate to enroll a spouse and a birth certificate for children; you may also need to prove guardianship if not a birth parent.  These are forms necessary for our ACA audit files.  Normally, you only need to do this once -- at first enrollment; or, if there is a change or requested by me.

 For information on the plan, the best place to start is at this link: Capital Blue site for BSSD.  If you need an enrollment form (first time) it is in the upper left of the home page.  Complete and return to me so I can enroll you into the coverage.

 In the middle of the homepage or below are links you can click on to find information on our plan:

     PPO Benefits provide a description of the actual CapBlue insurance benefits and procedures;

     HSA Overview icon links to HSA information & BenefitWallet;

     RX Benefits provides the same for drugs including the current formulary;

     Live Healthy looks at wellness activities.   Also, here is a link to BSSD Wellness scorecard.

 Review of HSA/PPO Plan    The plan is the same as last year -- a Capital Blue Cross PPO plan. 

1.  Deductibles remain the same - $1,400 for a single, $2,800 for a family (2 or more people).  Note:  Rx (drugs) are included in this deductible.

2.  There is a 10% co-insurance for expenses above the deductible until you reach the Out Of Pocket (OOP) maximum – this includes Rx also.

3.  OOP Max amounts are $2,000 for a single and $4,000 per family.  You have no expense after the OOP.

4.  The plan includes a Health Savings Account (HSA) for those who qualify; this is a bank account through BenefitWallet that you can use to pay the deductible, co-insurance and other qualified expenses with pre-tax money.  There are some qualifications on the HSA: 

    a. The District will deposit $600 for a single or $1,200 for a family into your HSA on August 15^th to offset the higher deductibles.

    b. If you completed the Wellness sheet for 2018/19, you will receive an additional $350 deposit on the July 15^{t h} pay.

    c. As part of the open enrollment process you can elect to deposit pre-tax dollars from your paycheck into the HSA up to the IRS max of $3500 / $7,000 for tax year 2019 and $3,550 / $7,100 for 2020.

5.  However, not everyone is eligible for the HSA account -- you are NOT eligible for an HSA account if:

    a. You don’t have a qualified high deductible insurance plan; or

    b. You are covered on a spouse’s medical flexible spending account (FSA); or

    c. You are Medicare enrolled (due to age 65 or disability); or

    d. You are also covered by a spouse’s plan (as second payer) that is NOT a qualified high deductible insurance plan.

6.  Preventive care services are free – if they are scheduled as such and recorded by the doctor as preventive. 

7.  RX note:  We are in the beginning stages of carving out RX from our Capital Blue Cross medical plan.  This will return us to two cards – one for RX and another for medical.  However, given the amount of money wasted in allowing CBC to control the RX, we must do this to ensure we can fund quality benefits in the future.  If this happens, it will likely cause a change on January 1, 2020.  Stay tuned for more info.  

 Flexible Spending  / Dependent Care Accounts   If you are not eligible for an HSA, you would then be eligible for a medical flexible spending account (FSA) with Horace Mann; they also provide our dependent FSA program.  Link to Enrollment Form.

            Flexible Medical Spending Account information can be found here.

            Dependent Care Account information can be found here.

 Review of Dental & Vision    Dental and Vision rates for 2019/20 remain the same as last year. 

Plan info:     Delta Dental                         NVA Vision

Review of Rates   The medical/Rx rates for 2019/20 are going down slightly over 2% from 2018/19; here are links to group rates & premium share $ for active employees:    Professional Staff        Classified Staff       Act 93 Admin

Lump Sum Election   For new teachers, or those returning and desire to change to Lump Sum Pay, you must submit the IRS 409 Pay Election form.  The IRS requires this selection to be done prior to the start of the school year.  Therefore, this selection is for the June 2020 Lump Sum Payment.  To make a change to Lump Sum Payment submit the form to Phyllis Martin in the Payroll Office.

 By the same regulation, the upcoming June 2019 payment was locked in during the 2018 Open Enrollment period and you are unable to change it for the end of the current school year. 

 Retirees  For those retiring, or retired, and use our plan we use the same healthcare providers & coverages; however you are responsible for the entire premium plus a 2% admin fee; the enrollment form and rates are here:  Retiree Enrollment.  You must return this form to Phyllis Martin in the Payroll Office with a signature.

 Questions?  USI provided the following PDF as an Overview of our HSA/PPO plan.   If you have questions, or just need a quick review, please call Phyllis Martin in the Payroll Office at x2405 or reply to this message.  If I am not at my desk, you can also call Stacy Lehman at x2418.

                                                                  Ready?  Follow this Link to Talent Ed Records