UCLA employees face decisions next month
By Camille Carr
UCLA Today
November, the traditional time to brace yourself for family reunions and the marathon of holiday shopping, is, more importantly, the month for Open Enrollment.
From Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, employees can enroll or change their medical, dental and vision plans; add dependents to those plans; and enroll in the Health Care Reimbursement Account and the Dependent Care Reimbursement Account.
One significant choice that many UCLA employees will want to consider is whether or not to sign up for the UC Supplemental Disability Plan, which has not been open for enrollment for nearly 15 years.
During November, it will be open to all active employees, even those who were previously denied, without a “Statement of Health” approval. Those already enrolled can opt to reduce their waiting period. Coverage will take effect Jan. 1, 2006.
Here are some other changes for 2006:
• There will be small cost increases for all the medical plans, except for the Blue Cross PPO plan, whose costs are going down slightly. The dental and vision plans continue to be fully paid by UC. And as in past years, UC will give special consideration to those at lower salary levels when determining employees’ contributions toward their medical coverage.
• There will be an increase in co-payments for HMO doctor office visits. Reimbursements for minor dental work will go up from 75% to 80% for Delta Dental participants.
• For employees who have Health Care Reimbursement and DepCare Reimbursement Ac-
counts, the period for incurring eligible expenses for the 2005 plan year will be extended.
Open Enrollment materials should start to arrive in the mail at your home this week. UCLA will hold its annual Open Enrollment Fair on Nov. 17 at the Faculty Center. Retirees can attend from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; and active employees can visit from noon to 4 p.m.
Two fairs will be held for medical center employees on Nov. 18: one at the UCLA Medical Center in the CHS cafeteria vending area conference room from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and in the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center cafeteria conference room from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can make your Open Enrollment choices at http://atyourservice.ucop.edu beginning at 8 a.m. Nov. 1 through midnight, Nov. 30.
Also, the independent research firm DSS Research conducted a member satisfaction survey this year rating UC-sponsored medical plans.
To see the results of the survey, go to http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/briefing/2005_sept/uc_ratings.html.
|
