During benefits open enrollment, UGA employees who choose healthcare coverage must certify their tobacco use status. Those who do not certify their status will default to “tobacco user,” and a $75 monthly surchage will be added to their premium beginning in January. The tobacco user status of an employee’s covered dependents will default to “no.”
Employees may make changes to their tobacco use status at any time, and the change will be effective the first of the following month. However, there will be no refunds of the $75 surcharge so employees should certify their status correctly during open enrollment, which ends Nov. 14.
