{"id":15178,"date":"2020-09-10T14:30:56","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T18:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=15178"},"modified":"2020-10-06T14:51:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T18:51:38","slug":"time-to-choose-your-benefits-for-2021-your-open-enrollment-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=15178","title":{"rendered":"Time to Choose Your Benefits for 2021: Your Open Enrollment Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It&#8217;s more important than ever to make sure you have the best benefits options selected for you and your family. October is almost here, which means the MSU Benefits Open Enrollment period (<strong>October 1-31, 2020<\/strong>) is about to begin for benefits-eligible employees. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, we will not be having our usual in-person Benefits Fair or offering in-person assistance with our MSU HR staff. However, we&nbsp;will be providing virtual opportunities for you to ask questions and get assistance, including a Virtual Benefits Fair (learn more below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use the following checklist to help guide you through Open Enrollment and be sure to make your selections between <strong>October 1 -31, 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul type=\"1\"><li><strong>Double Check Your Benefits Needs<\/strong><br>During Open Enrollment, you may enroll in, change, or cancel coverage for the following benefits:<ul><li>Health<\/li><li>Dental<\/li><li>Flexible spending accounts (health and\/or dependent care)<\/li><li>Life insurance<\/li><li>Some voluntary benefits, like vision, legal or critical illness insurance<br><br>Make sure you review the Open Enrollment guide carefully and choose the best benefits plans for your family. Remember, you also have access to various voluntary benefits, like vision insurance. <a href=\"https:\/\/hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/\">Find Open Enrollment guides on the HR website<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Do you cover a spouse\/other eligible individual (OEI) on your benefits? Complete the Affidavit.<\/strong><br>If you have a spouse\/Other Eligible Individual (OEI) that you cover on your benefits plan, you <strong>MUST<\/strong> complete the affidavit online through the EBS Portal every year. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/instructions.html\" target=\"_blank\">Find instructions for completing the affidavit as part of Open Enrollment here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Review the Changes for Next Year\u2019s Plans<\/strong><br>Changes for the 2021 plan year include:<ul><li><strong>Increase to the premium threshold for the spousal affidavit<\/strong>: If your spouse\/OEI has access to health care coverage through their own current or former employer, they must purchase the coverage their own employer offers if the annual employee premium cost for single-person coverage is <strong>$1,500<\/strong> or less. You may still cover your spouse\/OEI on your MSU health coverage as a secondary plan.<\/li><li><strong>Increase to Benefit Level for Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&amp;D) Insurance: <\/strong>Employee-paid Life and AD&amp;D insurance is now available at a benefit level 1-10 times your salary. Previously, it was available at a benefit level 1-8 times your salary. Learn more about these benefits in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Open Enrollment guides<\/a>.<\/li><li><strong>Aetna DMO Co-Pay Increase for Orthodontics<\/strong>: The <strong>Aetna DMO<\/strong> co-pays for orthodontics have increased from $2,300 to $3,000. Only support staff are eligible to enroll in the Aetna DMO plan. Co-pays have not changed for the <strong>Aetna Premium DMO<\/strong> plan. Find co-pays by dental plan in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Open Enrollment guides<\/a>.<br><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Make Your Changes Online Before October 31<\/strong><br>If you want to make changes to your benefits selections \u2013 or you cover a spouse\/OEI on your benefits plan \u2013 we encourage you to do so during the Open Enrollment window: <strong>October 1 \u2013 31, 2020<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Virtual Benefits Fair<br><\/strong>In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, we will not be having an in-person Benefits Fair this year. Instead, we&#8217;re offering a Virtual Benefits Fair from <strong>October 12-16<\/strong>, which will consist of an online source for curated content from our benefits vendors (such as videos, brochures and more), along with the opportunity for you to ask your benefits questions to MSU HR staff and\/or our benefit vendors on <strong>October 15 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. <\/strong>and <strong>October 16 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/strong> Visit the<strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/benefits-fair-2021.html\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual Benefits Fair Information page<\/a><\/strong> on the HR website to find the most up-to-date info&nbsp;about the fair.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We hope this checklist is helpful! Remember, everything you need to know about Open Enrollment is available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hr.msu.edu\/open-enrollment\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HR website Open Enrollment page<\/a>, including links to the appropriate benefits guide, enrollment instructions, and detailed benefits information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Questions?<\/strong> We\u2019re happy to help! Call or email the HR Solutions Center at 517-353-4434 or <a href=\"mailto:SolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s more important than ever to make sure you have the best benefits options selected for you and your family. October is almost here, which means the MSU Benefits Open Enrollment period (October 1-31, 2020)&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=15178\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span> Time to Choose Your Benefits for 2021: Your Open Enrollment Checklist<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[2],"tags":[478,16,480,174,479],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/mid-october-checklist-reshare.gif?fit=600%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb1fcA-3WO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15178"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15246,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178\/revisions\/15246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}