Making Changes to Your Benefit Programs
Use eTrac to Make Changes
Changes to your medical or dental plans and to your retirement plans are initiated via eTrac. When you make a change that requires verification (such as adding a dependent), you will receive e-mail with information about the type of documentation you need to submit to your benefits office. Details about the services and information available on eTrac are on "Use eTrac to See Your Benefits Summary."
Open Enrollment
Each November is the Open Enrollment period at USC. You can make changes to any of your benefits during Open Enrollment, which will then become effective on January 1. Except for certain changes in your employment or family status, Open Enrollment is the only time you can make changes to certain benefit plans. During Open Enrollment, benefit fairs are held on both the University Park and Health Sciences campus. Any change is subject to the terms of the applicable plan (e.g. supplying evidence of insurability).
Making Benefits Changes When Your Life Changes
Many of your benefit plans may be changed at any time. However, only qualifying changes in employment or family status allow you to make changes to the following:
- Medical, Vision and Dental plan
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
- Disability Plans
- Flexible Spending Accounts
Only changes in your enrollment that are consistent with the life event may be made. For example, if you have a baby, you can add the baby to your medical plan or start or add to your Flexible Spending Account to cover health care or child care expenses.
Life Changes that Qualify
- Marriage, divorce or legal separation
- Registration or termination of a domestic partnership
- Change in employment status or reduction in number of hours worked
- Death of a loved one
- Birth, adoption (or placement for adoption) of a child or court-approved legal guardianship
- Changes in insurance coverage (such as loss of a dependent’s insurance coverage)
- Changes in health insurance eligibility due to a relocation of residence or workplace
Within 30 Days of the Life Event, You Must
- Contact your benefits office to discuss the effects on your benefits.
- Initiate a change on eTrac or, for some benefits, submit a paper enrollment form.
- Provide the required documentation of the life event to your benefits office.
If you do not enroll your dependents within 30 days of the qualifying event you must wait until the next Open Enrollment period with coverage becoming effective the following January 1. You are also required to contact your benefits office within 30 days of the qualifying event when you need to stop coverage for a dependent, this will provide time to process the change in coverage and provide information about the availability of continuing coverage through COBRA within the 60 days required by COBRA.
Loss of a Dependent’s Insurance Coverage
Eligible dependents who have other health coverage but subsequently lose that coverage, either because their COBRA coverage is exhausted or because they cease to be eligible for the other coverage, may be enrolled in the employee’s health plan within 30 days of the loss of coverage. Documentation of other coverage and reason for loss, along with documentation of the dependent’s relationship to the employee must be provided. Enrollment in the employee’s health plan is not permitted if the dependent’s loss of coverage is due to failure to pay required premiums on a timely basis. You or your covered dependent may lose coverage for cause (such as making a fraudulent claim or an intentional misrepresentation of a material fact in conjunction with the plan). Such loss of eligibility may be disclosed by a health plan to a benefit department as termination of enrollment for cause and is specifically permitted under the Privacy rule. A termination of enrollment of dependent or employee for cause from one health plan will result in loss of eligibility for enrollment in any other health plan.
What is Provisional Documentation?
Provisional Documentation is documentation that can be temporarily accepted when an employee needs to make changes to his or her coverage (e.g., marriage or birth of a child).
Receipt of official certified documentation can take several months. You must still initiate the enrollment of your new dependents via eTrac and submit provisional documentation within 30 days of the change in family status (i.e. date of marriage or date of birth). Provisional documentation will provide for temporary enrollment. Failure to provide the final official documentation within 3 months of the effective date of coverage will result in cancellation of enrollment.
Here are some examples of acceptable provisional documentation:
For Marriage
• copy of application for marriage license
• copy of church certificate
Birth of a Child
• copy of letter from hospital normally given to parents at birth of child
Please provide the appropriate documentation to your benefits office in order for us to approve your enrollment. Your may fax or hand-deliver or mail the documentation to us.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
next »
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
|
