benefits FOCUS – Special Open Enrollment Edition

benefits FOCUSSpecial Edition – June 13, 2014

What’s the BIG news?

The annual Open Enrollment period will begin this Sunday, June 15th! This year, ALL benefits-eligible employees must log-in to the Open Enrollment site, review your information, make any changes you want (if applicable), and then hit the CONFIRM button to save your visit—even if you are not currently enrolled in our medical/dental/Flexible Spending Account (FSA), do not wish to do so for next year, or are not planning on making any changes to your current benefits. 

What should I be doing during this Open Enrollment period?

  1. Read about your benefit options on the Open Enrollment Information site.
    You’ll find:

    • a quick overview of the plans, changes and suggestions for comparing plans
    • a “what’s new” summary
    • a side by side medical plan highlight comparison
  2. Log-in to the open enrollment webpage, review/change your information, and be sure to hit the CONFIRM button at the end to save your visit!

Remember: You need to enroll ANNUALLY if you want a flexible spending account (FSA—formally known as Beneplus).

Contact us (296-5827) if you have questions or need assistance.

What do I NEED to know about our benefits for next year?

Medical Plan Changes:

  • out of pocket maximums increased by $500/individual and $1,000/family
  • prescription drug co-pays will now apply to your out of pocket maximum (required by the Affordable Care Act)
  • $250 deductible* will be implemented January 1, 2015 (see below for explanation)
  • self-administered drugs will move to co-insurance (vs. flat Rx co-pay)

The following rates (full-time, 12-pay schedule) will be effective as of October 1, 2014:

Medical Benefits

Dental Changes:

No changes have been made to plan design.

The following rates (full-time, 12-pay schedule) will be effective as of October 1, 2014:

Dental Benefits

*What is a deductible and how does it work?

A deductible is the amount you pay first for co-insurance based services (things like MRIs, out-patient surgery, hospitalizations) before the plan covers those services.

Effective 1/1/15, you will pay $250 (the deductible) for co-insurance based services (things like MRIs, out-patient surgery, hospitalizations, etc.) before the plan starts to cover those charges.

Co-pay based services (doctor’s visits, prescription drugs, etc.) do not require you to meet the deductible—you will pay your normal co-pays for these services.

Here’s an example of how a deductible works:
You need surgery on January 2nd. Surgery costs $3,500, and since you are on the Plus plan, you are responsible for 10%  of the allowable charge ($350). You haven’t paid the deductible ($250) yet this plan year. So, you will pay $600 for this surgery ($350 + $250 = $600). Let’s say you need another surgery in March. This surgery costs $1,000 and you are responsible for 10% of the allowable charge ($100). Since you have already met your deductible for the plan year, you only pay $100.

Where do I learn more?

This year, our Open Enrollment Information site is posted in Sharepoint. This means that if you are accessing the information page from your home, school, or an off-site location, you may be prompted to enter your normal log-in and password. This is for your added security. If you have issues logging in, please see our HELP! section below.

Read about your benefit options on the Open Enrollment Information site.

REMEMBER: Open Enrollment IS mandatory this year for all benefits-eligible employees, so please be sure to review the information before you log-in to your personal Open Enrollment site. Open Enrollment begins Sunday, June 15th and ends Tuesday, July 15th!

Open Enrollment HELP!

Help! I’m an ACPS employee and having issues logging in to Sharepoint:

You may be asked to enter your username, password, and possibly your domain. If you are only asked for username and password, enter them as follows:
Username: schls\your username
Password: your password (the same one you use to sign onto your computer)

If you are asked for username, password, and domain, enter them as follows:
Username: your username
Password: your password (the same one you use to sign onto your computer)
Domain: schls

Help! I got to the Open Enrollment log-in page, but I can’t log in:

To enter the system, you will need to:
Check the box that says: By checking this box, I confirm that I have read and understand these instructions
Enter your Last Name (as it appears on your paycheck) and
Enter the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number (SSN)
If this is your first log-in to the system this year, do not enter a password; you’ll be prompted to create a new one once you’ve logged in.