The NBER benefit plans open enrollment starts today, November 15 and
will end December 15, 2013. This year's open enrollment will take place
online, using the ADP portal <https://portal.adp.com/public/index.htm>.
Online enrollment is quite straightforward and easy to follow. Detailed
instructions can be downloaded here
<mailbox:///C:/Users/birnbaum/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/gr0681o1.default/Mail/Local%20Folders/Templates?number=100867171&part=1.1.2&filename=NBER_ADP_Open_Enrollment_Instructions_2014.pdf>.
Please take a minute to look at them and let me know if you have any
questions.
While you are logged into the system, please take some time to review
your personal information and make any corrections or updates
necessary. If you haven't already done so, please go to
Personal>>Talent, and enter your educational background, prior work
experience, and skills.
*Blue Cross/Blue Shield:*
If you need to make any changes in your health plan selection for the
upcoming year, from January 1st to December 31, 2014, this is the time
to make those changes. Please note that this plan is based on the
calendar year. Health plan selections roll over unchanged from year to
year unless you make an active change in your coverage, or there is a
change to the plans being offered.
In response to new federal health insurance regulations, BCBS has
terminated the NBER's traditional health plan but the replacement plan
is very similar. I want to alert you to this before we begin open
enrollment when you will decide whether to stay in the replacement plan
or switch to the deductible plan.
At the staff meeting on October 30, our benefits broker Ken Bettenhauser
explained that under the Affordable Care Act all plans need to fall into
one of 4 bands: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. In order to fit into
the platinum band, the plan has to pay 88% to 92% of the subscriber's
total health care costs. The NBER's traditional $10 HMO plan that you're
currently enrolled in paid too high a percentage of the total cost to
fit into the platinum band, so Blue Cross had to discontinue it. The new
plan shifts more of the costs to the subscriber via higher co-pays. In
particular, office visit co-pays have increased and there are new
co-pays for hospital in-patient and out-patient surgery, while
prescription co-pays remain the same.
*Delta Dental and Life/Disability Insurance:*
The NBER dental plan is paid for by the NBER, with no employee
contribution necessary. If you are enrolling for the first time,
however, you will need to complete application forms, which can be found
online on the ADP portal, and return the completed form to me before you
can be enrolled. I can also email you an enrollment form if you prefer.
*The deadline for submitting enrollment forms is December 15, 2013.*
*Flexible Spending plans:*
The plan maximums are $2,500/year (or $208.33/month)for the Medical
Reimbursement and $5,000/year ($416.67/month) for the Dependent Care
Reimbursement.
*This year's flexible spending plan enrollments will expire after
December 31, 2013. Your online enrollment must be **completed **by
Monday, December 16, 2013, to allow processing for the first January
2014 payroll.*
Under this program, money may be deducted from an employee's salary,
which in turn reduces his or her taxable income. With that money, the
employee is reimbursed for certain uninsured medical expenses incurred
by the employee, his or her spouse, or eligible children, or for
qualified dependent care expenses. The employee pays in full for this
benefit, and any excess deductions at the end of the year are not
returned to the employee.
Participants in the Medical and Dependent Care FSA will have until March
15, 2015 to use up the money they have in their accounts. The deadline
for 2013 reimbursements is April 15, 2015.
If you have any questions about any of these plans, please let me know.
Diane Birnbaum
NBER HR
Received on Fri Nov 15 2013 - 09:45:21 EST
