Open Enrollment Prep: Things I Didn’t Know
October 31, 2006
Luckily for me, Open Enrollment runs from November 1-22nd so I have all the way up to pre-Thanksgiving to do my research and make my decisions regarding changing medical plans, my FSA allocation and all sorts of other goodies. When I unearthed my desk this morning, I came across my Benefits News 2007 newsletter which informs me that:
My co-payment under the HMO will increase by 50% from $10 to $15 per office visit.
*The PPO 90%(covered)/10%(copay) split remains the same.
One aspect of the PPO prescription drug benefit is clarified a little: Mail service is available for lower co-pays on maintenance medication.
*I expect to have some sort of maintenance medication, all the time.
Life Insurance: Can be purchased in multiples of your regular annual pay – 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x.
Your Age: 25-29
Rate per month per $1,000 (payroll deduction; after-tax dollars): $0.039
*They include term life insurance for dependents. I think their whole explanation of how to calculate life insurance, and why you carry it, should utterly negate the point of life insurance for children, shouldn’t it?
“You buy life insurance to replace your income in the event that you die when others are relying on you for support.”
*Yes, I am one of those young folks who will find it necessary to buy substantial supplemental life insurance for the next few years. I want to make sure that my parents will be taken care of, especially if I’m not there to do it.
Designating your beneficiary: I didn’t know that I could stipulate “per stirpes” (“should a primary beneficiary predecease you, the beneficiary’s share of the inheritance will go to his or her heirs”) versus “per capita” (“should a primary beneficiary predecease you, the successor beneficiaries would share the inheritance equally.”)
Supplemental Disability Insurance: Unfortunately, there isn’t any information on this and I know I wanted to make a decision about this.
Thursday is the Benefits Fair so I can try to get answers to most of my last niggling questions before I actually have to make a commitment. I feel very organized about this whole benefits thing, finally. Maybe I’m getting the hang of it!
$15 copay is pretty cheap. Here we students pay $25 per visit.
It might be because of the 90/10 split. Have you ever had to pay these split bills? I had one experience with a trashy insurance company that was a 80/20 agreement …and I didn’t like it one bit. 20% of a couple of bills almost neared $400 !!
Hey Miniducky….check out some of my recents posts on open enrollment. I did a post on the supplemental disability that you might find useful!
Good luck on enrollment!
Golb: I’ve been spoiled by the $10 copay …. I’m going to ask the secretary what her typical copay is, because I know she uses the PPO. I sure hope that our 90/10 split isn’t that bad … but I’m either going through university medical faculty or Blue Cross.
Daniel: I’ve been checking in, you’re just more on the ball than I am! š Thanks!