Open enrollment for benefits — mandatory this year — open through March 26

Rice’s annual open enrollment period for health and welfare benefits is March 8-26, and unlike in years past, employees must complete enrollment even if they want to keep the same medical plan.

There are significant medical plan design changes for 2021-22, and employees must answer questions about spousal coverage and using tobacco or nicotine. Those who do not complete enrollment will be defaulted into the Aetna HMO plan, and it will be assumed they and/or their covered spouse are tobacco or nicotine users and that their spouse has coverage available from their employer. These latter two assumptions will lead to additional expenses.

The open enrollment period is the only opportunity each year to make changes to benefits without a qualifying change in status and to make medical, dependent-care and health savings account (HSA) contributions. This year, everyone who completes enrollment will be entered into a raffle for a prize.

Detailed information regarding plan changes and rates is available by visiting benefits.rice.edu and clicking the “Annual Enrollment 2021-2022” button.

Among other changes in 2021-22 (new premiums and plans go into effect July 1):

• A new and improved Consumer-Directed Health Plan with health savings account (HSA) seed money from Rice.
• A new HSA provider: Fidelity.
• Generic drugs are required or a penalty applies.
• A new program for Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics.
• A new method for calculating life insurance levels.
• Improved coverage in the legal plan at a lower cost.

The enrollment portal, powered by BenefitFocus, contains helpful tools such as a cost calculator that factors in both premiums and out-of-pocket costs to help employees determine which plans are best for them. Employees will be able to access reports on their enrollment status, dependents and coverage levels. The portal also serves as the repository for documents such as verifications of dependent eligibility and life events.

To access the portal:

1. Visit benefits.rice.edu.
2. Select the “Enroll in Benefits” icon located on the far right to access the enrollment portal.
3. After logging in using your Rice NetID and password, you will be directed to the benefits portal.
4. Click on the “Enroll Now” icon on the far right.
5. Answer the questions related to spousal coverage and tobacco/nicotine use.
6. Enroll in or edit your medical coverage, add dependents as needed and make your election to accept or decline the medical flexible spending account by clicking on “Get started” on the upper right.
7. Follow through for all benefits that are offered to you.
8. Once all sections have been completed and you have submitted them, you can print a confirmation of your enrollment.

Employees can also access the portal on a mobile device by downloading the BenefitFocus mobile app from Google Play or the Apple Store. (Enter the company code “Rice” when prompted.)

All elections must be made by March 26.

If you need help navigating the portal, understanding health and welfare benefits or making changes due to a qualifying life event, employees can contact the Rice Benefits Service Center from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling 713-348-2363 or visiting benefits.rice.edu. If you still have questions, email benefits@rice.edu.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all communications about annual enrollment will be provided electronically or telephonically.

Rice employees can also learn more about their benefits in upcoming Zoom meetings. The schedule is posted at people.rice.edu. Participants must have a Rice ID to sign up for the sessions, which will be recorded and posted on the benefits website.

Medical

Medical plan options for the 2021-22 fiscal year are as follows:

Accountable Care Organization (ACO)

This is a plan with a specific network of doctors and hospitals affiliated with Memorial Hermann, with a primary care physician, or PCP, guiding each patient’s care with assistance from a specified team of professionals dedicated to that patient’s overall care.

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

In this plan, an employee selects a PCP who serves as a “gatekeeper” for all medical services. Under this plan, patients must consult with their PCP before receiving services from most specialist physicians and other service providers, who are all within the HMO network.

Point-of-Service (POS II)

With this plan, patients pay a copay for in-network physician’s office services. Patients have a deductible and pay 10% for most other in-network services. However, this plan does not require a patient to get a referral from a PCP before seeing a specialist and has out-of-network coverage.

Consumer-Directed Health Plan (CDHP)

This plan has a higher deductible and coinsurance than the POS option, but the same network provisions. Participants pay the full cost for services and prescriptions up to the deductible and then the plan kicks in, paying coinsurance (except for pharmacy expenses, which have copays) for medical services until the out-of-pocket maximum is met. This plan allows for the benefits of a health savings account because it is a qualifying high-deductible health plan. Employees can get the triple tax benefit of pre-tax deductions, tax-free growth and tax-free use of the savings for qualified medical, dental and vision expenses. And this year, Rice will seed that account with $500 for individuals and $1,000 for employees with one or more additional family members covered.

Vision

Rice offers a vision plan to all employees even if they are not enrolled in the medical plan. The plan, administered by Aetna, features the Aetna Vision Preferred network of providers. To locate a provider, call 1-855-679-3815 or visit aetnavision.com.

Dental

Rice will offer two dental plan options, both administered by Aetna: the PPO and the DHMO.

In the PPO plan, participants may use any dentist of their choosing and the plan pays a percentage of the services. The DHMO requires participants to select a dentist from a list of providers and covers frequently performed procedures either in full or a specified copay.

As in previous years, employees earning less than $40,000 annualized salary per year may be eligible for a 50% premium subsidy.

Flexible spending accounts (FSA)

Flexible medical spending accounts, or FSAs, allow participants to set aside pretax dollars to pay for eligible out-of-pocket medical and dependent-care expenses. FSAs are “use it or lose it” accounts; any money left in the account at the end of the grace period is forfeited. FSA elections made for the 2021-22 plan year must be used by Sept. 15, 2022, and filed for by Nov. 30, 2022, or the money will be forfeited. Medical FSAs can stand alone or accompany the ACO, HMO and POS plans only. Under FSAs, you should keep your receipts because you may be required to submit them to verify they are eligible charges.

You must reelect any FSA amounts each year. The amount will not roll over from 2021-22 to 2022-23. The medical limit for medical flexible account will be $2,750 and dependent care will remain at $5,000 for families filing jointly.