The 2012 Open Enrollment (OE) period for all Maryland state insurance benefits will take place from Tuesday, April 17 to Tuesday, May 1.
OE offers eligible faculty, staff and retirees (including eligible contingent staff, lecturers and part-time faculty) the opportunity to evaluate and compare their current benefits coverage to the coverage and costs for the new plan year beginning July 1, 2012. Changes can usually be made during OE without any special enrollment restrictions.
This year?s OE will be voluntary; therefore, individuals who have no changes or corrections to their plans do not need to take any action. However, regular employees who would like to have flexible spending accounts (FSA) during the new plan year must re-enroll during OE. Remember that OE does not affect or involve either of the USM benefit plans (Unum Group Life and Long Term Disability insurance).
Rates
The new 2012-2013 plan year premium rates for regular faculty and staff employees, State retirees and direct pay employees are now posted on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website at {http://dbm.maryland.gov/benefits/Pages/PremiumRates.aspx}. While the rates for dental, MetLife term life insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment plans did not change for the new plan year, all the medical plan rates will increase between 1.5% (for individual Aetna EPO) to 7.8 % (for employee/family United HealthCare PPO). Rates for the prescription drug plan will also increase by approximately 0.5% for each coverage level.
Benefits Festival and Health Fair
Faculty, staff, and retirees should plan on attending the Benefits Festival and Health Fair being held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, April 13 in the University Union Chesapeake rooms. All of the Maryland state benefits providers will be available at the festival so take advantage of this opportunity to meet with them and find out how the changes in coverage and medical plan design will affect you and/or your family in the 2012-2013 plan year. There will also be two special presentations by representatives from DBM at 10:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to go over the details of the various changes to the medical plans and new prescription provider. Special flyers with more details about this exciting and important event will soon be distributed to faculty and staff employees via campus mail.
Daily Digest is utilized as the primary means to share additional information about OE. Be sure to check it often for updates and reminders!
Questions should be directed to Dave Curtis, x46018, email: {dcurtis@towson.edu} or Gail Price, x46017, email: {gprice@towson.edu}.
