Benefits enrollment begins April 11

Benefits enrollment begins April 11

BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News staff

Open enrollment for Rice University health benefits begins April 11, and Rice employees will see few changes to the medical and dental plans this year.

• The health benefit plans will be the same as last year’s — HMO, Flexplan (also called “POS”), PPO and catastrophic.

• The university will stay in the Aetna physician and hospital network, which has grown to include more than 7,800 primary care and specialist physicians in the Houston area (and over 8,700 in the PPO).

• Medical co-pays and deductibles will remain unchanged.

• Since Rice was able to negotiate an additional two-year guarantee for dental plan rates, dental plans and rates will remain unchanged this year.

• Life insurance rates also will remain the same or, for some members, decrease.

Employee health insurance premiums will change, however, with rates increasing by 9 percent — slightly less than the 10 to 12 percent increase other Houston-area businesses are experiencing. Rice will also absorb a 9 percent rate increase for its portion of the total insurance premiums; the portion of the university contribution to the insurance premiums remains unchanged (from about 80 percent of the cost for employee-only coverage to about 60 percent of the cost of family coverage).

For example, the employee-only HMO rates are going to $56 from $51 per month, with Rice continuing to pay for 82.4 percent of the cost of the program. Rice’s contribution for the same coverage is going to $263 from $241 per month.

“Now that we are totally self-insured, the major increases to the cost of the health plans depend on the extent to which they are used even more than the level of health-care inflation,” said Elaine Britt, director of benefits.

The advantage of the self-insurance model, in which the university rather than an insurance company pays the medical and dental claims, is that Rice has much more control over plan features, such as which services are covered and what the coinsurance levels are. And because the insurance premiums deducted from employees’ payroll checks are based on, among other things, the claim-cost history of Rice plan participants, it also gives the employees themselves the power to control costs.
“To the extent that the Rice community improves its overall ‘wellness,’ we will be helping to moderate future increases,” Britt said.

Rice encourages that wellness by offering employees a variety of programs and resources, including the Rice Wellness Challenge, the Weight Watchers “At-Work” Program and Get Looped at Lunch. (See the sidebar for more information.)
Employees can also help Rice manage health-care costs by being informed consumers. Some simple steps can save some money. For example, review the costs of medications and consider using generic drugs. While generic medications may not be for everyone, employees can discuss this alternative with their physicians. Aetna’s Navigator Web site (http://member.aetna.com) also has several tools to help members stay healthy and make informed health-care decisions.

“Ultimately, it is our costs as a community that drive our individual health-care premiums, so be sure you use our health-care dollars wisely,” Britt said.

Open enrollment will again be conducted completely online and will begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday, April 11, and run through 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 22. Several pre-enrollment meetings — including one called “Medical Insurance 101: How to Pick the Best Plan for You” — will be held at which employees can learn more about each of the medical plans.

In the coming week, employees will receive a benefits packet at their campus address, which will include the Web address for enrollment (http://esther.rice.edu), their Rice ID number and their personal identification number (PIN) as well as complete instructions for the enrollment process.

Online enrollment can be done at any time of the day from anywhere. Employees just need an Internet connection and the information for any dependents. A series of screens will walk employees through the process, allowing the same types of choices as in previous years. At the end, employees will be able to calculate the costs of their benefits, get an estimate of the total changes in their costs and approve the submission of their selections. An e-mail confirmation will be sent to confirm the choices.

Employees who choose new benefits that require evidence of insurability, beneficiary elections or long-term-care insurance will require a little additional paperwork, which can be completed in the Human Resources offices in Allen Center.

Employees who want to keep medical or dependent-care spending accounts (whether at the same contribution level or a different amount) or those who want to make a change to their benefits must go online to do so. For those employees who do not go online and select benefits, Rice will automatically roll over the medical, dental, disability, accidental death and dismemberment, life insurance and long-term-care insurance. Employees will continue to pay for these benefits through June 30, 2006.

The Benefits Team will be available to answer questions in person, on the phone and via e-mail at <people@rice.edu> each day of open enrollment from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feel free to make an appointment or drop by 330 Allen Center for assistance.