UGA employees will have from Oct. 26 until Nov. 20 to make changes to their health and dental benefits that will go into effect Jan. 1.
One of the biggest changes this year is the elimination of the indemnity health plan. The nearly 1,300 employees and retirees on this plan will have to choose another plan or automatically default to the PPO plan.
A vast majority of indemnity plan participants are retirees, and UGA Human Resources is sending out letters letting them know of the changes.
Lydia Lanier, a Human Resources senior director, said that many retirees don’t plan on changing their coverage and, therefore, don’t open the information letters mailed to them.
“We dealt with this problem last year,” she said. “We have retirees who haven’t opened benefit packets in
20 years, and we have to let them know about these changes.”
This year, the envelopes have a red message on the left corner, “Important Benefits Information, Open Immediately” to encourage retirees to read the information.
Another change this year is that employees enrolling in the high deductible health plans will receive a one-time deposit into their health savings accounts: $750 for single coverage and $1,500 for all other levels of coverage. These deposits will be made in two installments during January and July of 2010. Currently almost 400 people have the high deductible health plan, which was first offered last year.
The monthly employee contribution for the plan ranges from $25.25 to $70.07 depending on the number insured. The deductible for this plan is $1,500 for single coverage and $3,000 if one or more dependents are covered.
Lanier said that some family plans cost $400 a month, and employees could save the difference in the plan premiums in a health savings account for health-related expenses.
Rates for all the health plans are going up this year, 6-12 percent, or from about $2 a month to almost $50 a month for the employee contribution depending on the plan.
This year, the PPO plan’s network has been simplified. As a result, there won’t be a difference between in-
network claims in or outside of Georgia. There also will be a limited extended care benefit added to the PPO, and the plan will include a voluntary mail order prescription plan through Medco.
The dental plan will be open this year during open enrollment. The dental plan rates will increase 4 percent, or $1-$3 per month.
Human Resources has scheduled 12 open enrollment information sessions for faculty, staff and retirees. The sessions will feature a slideshow highlighting this year’s changes and give attendees a chance to ask questions.
The six on-campus sessions are intended for general audiences. They will be held Oct. 19 from 2-4 p.m. in the Tate Student Center Theater, Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. until noon in the Chapel, Oct. 27 from 2-4 p.m. in Mahler Auditorium of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel, Oct. 28 from 10 a.m.-noon on the Tate Student Center Theater, Nov. 11 from 2-4 p.m. in the Chapel and Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. until noon in the Mahler Auditorium of the Georgia Center.
Three sessions will be exclusively for retirees: Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. until noon, Nov. 9 from 2-4 p.m. and
Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. until noon. All retiree sessions will be held in Masters Hall of the Georgia Center.
Additionally, two sessions will be held in Griffin on Nov. 2 in Stuckey Auditorium. There will be a morning session from 10 a.m. until noon and an afternoon session from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Those sessions are open to current employees as well as retirees.
On. Nov. 3 representatives from Human Resources will be in Tifton for an information session from 10 a.m. until noon in the small auditorium of the Tifton Campus Conference Center. The session is for current employees and retirees.
Current employees should make benefits changes online at the HRconnection Web site, www.hrconnection.com/ by 5 p.m. on Nov. 20. Only retirees will be able to make changes using paper forms.
