Open enrollment for employee benefits begins April 10

Open enrollment for employee benefits begins April 10

BY LINDSEY FIELDER
Rice News staff

Open enrollment for Rice University health benefits begins April 10, and Rice employees will see few changes to the medical and dental plans this year.

• The health-benefit plan offerings 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 8,500 primary care and specialist physicians in the Houston area (and more than 9,400 in the PPO).

• Medical co-pays and deductibles will remain unchanged.

• Dental plans and rates will remain unchanged this year.

• Mental health outpatient therapy limits have been increased to 52 visits per year.

Employee health-insurance premiums will change, however, with total rates increasing by 9.5 percent — less than the 10 to 12 percent increase other Houston-area businesses are experiencing. After the university pays its share of the increase, it will also absorb an additional $60 per year of employee costs.

The net result will be that the employee-only HMO rates are going to have no increase next year, with Rice increasing its contribution to 84 percent of the cost of the program (up from 82 percent). Rice’s contribution for the same coverage is going up to $293 from $263 per month.

Other benefits changes include:

• Flexplan (POS) for employee plus child(ren) coverage is increasing $19 per month.

• PPO for employee-plus-family coverage is increasing by $62 per month.

“Rice has seen steady increases in health-care costs over the past few years, but they have progressed at a rate that is lower than the Houston community and the nation as a whole,” said Elaine Britt, director of benefits for Human Resources.

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. For instance, for the coming year, which begins July 1, Rice increased the mental health benefit limits.

“With all of the stress we experience every day — both on the job and in our environment — increasing access to mental health care just made sense,” Britt said.

Employees can 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 individual costs that drive our group health-care premiums, so all employees should be sure to use health-care dollars wisely,” Britt said.

Open enrollment will again be conducted completely online via Esther and will begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday, April 10, and run through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, April 27. Human Resources has extended the open-enrollment period based on employee feedback from last year.

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 Esther 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 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, 2007.

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 5 p.m. Faculty and staff can make an appointment or drop by 330 Allen Center for assistance.