Life Events - Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment ended at 5:00 (Eastern Time) on Friday, November 6. There is still time to enroll in a Flexible Spending Account using a paper form. Click here to view the 2010 Flexible Spending Account book.
Open Enrollment for electing 2010 benefits
Open Enrollment is an annual two-week event during which benefit-eligible faculty, staff, students and retirees can review their benefits and make changes for the upcoming calendar year.
The benefit plans listed below are not part of the annual Open Enrollment process. You may change or enroll in these plans at any time:
- Life Insurance
- Long-Term Disability
- Long-Term Care
- Retirement Savings Plan
What's New for 2010
- Health plan premium rate changes
2010 is the first year of the two-year transition to a new health plan cost-sharing ratio so employees and most retirees will begin contributing a greater percentage toward health care costs than they do today. Half of the increase will occur in January 2010, the remainder in January 2011. See the Benefits Stewardship site for more information on cost-sharing changes.
- View medical plan rates exclusively online
Beginning January 1, 2010, medical plan rates will be calculated based on three salary bands, and rates for faculty and staff will only be available online. Finding individualized rates is simple with the new medical plan rate calculator available on the Benefits Office Web site. Employees need to enter a valid uniqname and UMICH (Kerberos) password to login and see their individualized monthly rates for 2010 displayed. The system automatically checks the current appointment records to determine the appropriate salary band and display the 2010 medical plan rates.
Click here to access the Medical Plan Rate Calculator.
- 2010 Medical Plan Rate Estimator
A new Medical Plan Rate Estimator allows U-M recruiters, employees and prospective employees to select job groups and input hypothetical salaries to view 2010 monthly rates for U-M medical plans. No login is required.
- Office visit co-pay changes
For most medical insurance plans, the co-pay amount for an office visit will change from $15 to $20 and emergency room visit co-pays will change from $50 to $75 (co-pay is waived when admitted to the hospital for care).
- Prescription drug co-pay increases for AFSCME members
For AFSCME members, in 2010 prescription drug plan co-pays will increase from $14 to $15 for brand-name drugs and from $24 to $30 for non-preferred drugs. Generic drug co-pays will remain at $5 for a 34-day supply.
- Mental health coverage increases
For 2010, medical insurance plans are lifting current limits on the number of mental health visits allowed annually for approved services.
- Remove ineligible dependents from your benefits coverage
During Open Enrollment, be sure to remove ineligible
dependents from your U-M benefits plans enrollments. Plans are underway for a benefits audit designed to ensure that the individuals enrolled in U-M medical plans as dependents are qualified for coverage. The audit will begin in February 2010 and will be preceded by an amnesty period to run from now until Dec. 18, 2009.
Effective immediately, an amnesty period is being offered, during which faculty, staff and fellows can voluntarily disenroll dependents who do not meet eligibility requirements for U-M benefits without the possibility of disciplinary or legal action by the university, or other steps to recover costs. The amnesty period will run through Dec. 18, spanning this year’s Open Enrollment period to make the process of disenrollment of ineligible dependents simple and automated using Wolverine Access.
During the period before Open Enrollment begins and afterward through Dec. 18, ineligible dependents can be disenrolled without penalty by calling the HR/Payroll Service Center.
If your covered dependent is ineligible due to a COBRA qualifying event that has occurred within the past 60 days, such as a divorce or a child who recently married, your dependent may be eligible to continue coverage under COBRA. In such a case, do not remove your dependent from coverage electronically during Open Enrollment. If you do, continuation of benefits under the federal COBRA law will not be available. Instead, please immediately contact the HR/Payroll Service Center at 734-615-2000 or toll-free at 1-866-647-7657 for further assistance and instructions, cancel coverage and to protect your dependent's rights to continuation of coverage under the provisions of COBRA.
For more information, please refer to the following:
- Reduced printing and mailing costs
In an effort to continue reducing costs, this year the Benefits Office will streamline the ways Open Enrollment information will be shared with faculty and staff. Instead of receiving a postcard at home and a large booklet at work, faculty and staff will receive a single condensed information packet mailed to their homes in late September. The packet will include a medical plan coverage comparison chart, information on where to find rates and details about benefits plans, and instructions for making enrollment changes online through Wolverine Access.
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Overview
- The Open Enrollment period is October 26 - November 6, 2009.
- Faculty, staff, and benefit-eligible students will enroll online using Self Service on Wolverine Access. Retirees, Long-Term Disability participants, and those on COBRA, LOA, and RIF status will enroll using paper forms that will be mailed to home addresses in late September. See How to Enroll for more information.
- The benefit plans you select during Open Enrollment will become effective on January 1, and will remain in effect for the entire 2010 calendar year unless you experience a qualified family status change. Only changes consistent with the status change are allowed.
- If want to keep your current benefit elections, no action is required unless you want to enroll in a Flexible Spending Account. Flexible Spending Account elections require annual enrollment to participate. FSAs do not carry over from year to year.
- In support of the University’s cost-containment efforts, many notifications will be distributed by email this year. Watch your email In box for 2010 Benefits Open Enrollment news and share any news with your colleagues.
- Verify that your home address on record with the university is current. To check your address:
- Go to Wolverine Access
- Select Employee Business, or Student Business if you are a student
- Login with your uniqname and UMICH password
- Select Addresses under Campus Personal Information
- Review your current address and edit if necessary
- When finished, to protect your personal information be sure to click Sign out to close the Self Service window and then completely log out of Wolverine Access
- Open Enrollment information and instructions will be mailed to benefits-eligible individuals' home addresses prior to the beginning of the Open Enrollment period. Information about the various benefits plans and eligibility requirements for you and your dependents is available online.
Open Enrollment Benefits
If eligible, during Open Enrollment you can enroll, change coverage, add or delete dependents to the following plans:
Benefits you can change at any time
The benefit plans listed below are not part of the annual Open Enrollment process. You may change or enroll in these plans at any time:
Review your current coverage and beneficiaries
Even if you don't plan on making any changes to your benefits, Open Enrollment is a good time to review all of your benefits enrollments and coverage. You can view your current enrollments at any time through Wolverine Access. Select Employee Business, or Student Business if you are a student, login with your uniqname and password, and then select Benefits Summary under Benefits.
The Benefits Office encourages you to periodically review your beneficiary designations to make sure they are up to date. For information and instructions on how to change your beneficiaries, see Beneficiary.
Limitations
The University of Michigan in its sole discretion may modify, amend, or terminate the benefits provided with respect to any individual receiving benefits, including active employees, retirees, and their dependents. Although the university has elected to provide these benefits this year, no individual has a vested right to any of the benefits provided. Nothing in these materials gives any individual the right to continued benefits beyond the time the university modifies, amends, or terminates the benefit. Anyone seeking or accepting any of the benefits provided will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the benefits programs and the university's right to modify, amend or terminate them.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the benefits information in this site. However, if any provision on the benefits plans is unclear or ambiguous, the Benefits Office reserves the right to interpret the plan and resolve the problem. If any inconsistency exists between this site and the written plans or contracts, the actual provisions of each benefit plan will govern. The University of Michigan in its sole discretion may modify, amend, or terminate the benefits provided with respect to any individual receiving benefits, including active employees, retirees, and their dependents.
