2018 Open Enrollment Guide

Sep 29, 2017 | Robert McGriff | @m039153 | Comments (62)

OE_Guide

The 2018 Open Enrollment guide is now available!  Please click on the image above to open the document.  On the front cover, you can click on "Print OE Summary" to print a short version of the guide or you can just review the guide electronically and avoid printing altogether.

Reminder:  Benefits Open Enrollment is November 1st through the 15th.  This your opportunity to complete one (or more) of the following items:

  1. Enroll or change your medical plan election.
  2. Enroll or change your dental and vision plan election.
  3. Add or remove a family member.
  4. Elect to participate in a Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account for 2018.
  5. Pre-Elect to sell PTO in 2018 for 100% of it's value.

 

As always, feel free to comment or ask questions in the box below.

Interested in more newsfeed posts like this? Go to the Benefits Connect page.

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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@sleisen

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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Sue, thanks for the question. It is true that some employees pay spousal surcharge while others do not. During Open Enrollment, we ask a series of questions to determine if the spousal surcharge will be assessed. If you spouse is employed (somewhere other than Mayo Clinic) and they are offered a medical plan through their employment, and they decline the plan that is offered to them by their employer, then you will pay the spousal surcharge if you want to cover them in the Mayo Medical Plan. A self-employed individual usually does not have access to affordable group medical coverage like an individual who is employed and covered through employment. We introduced spousal surcharge in 2015 to help offset the rising cost of spousal coverage. If you spouse has access to a plan through their employer and they are enrolled in it, you can add them to our plan (as a secondary) without spousal surcharge.

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@sleisen

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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Yes I get this, but it still is not fair.  As some spouses employer coverage is just as expensive as private.  Thanks for your time.

 

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@sleisen

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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Sue, I certainly understand your concern. When making decisions about benefits and costs, we try to be as fair as we can while being good stewards of the resource that the organization makes available to us. It helps to hear feedback from employees so thanks again for taking the time to comment.

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@sleisen

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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I feel like it is almost a double-tax. I'm paying to cover my spouse through the "employee+spouse" or "family" premiums, but then I have this $75 surcharge on top of it. The cost to insure my spouse is nearly 50% of our monthly insurance cost.

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@sleisen

My question is regarding my health insurance cost for my spouse. Is it true that I pay $75.00 to have my spouse covered in addition to the premium and other employees that have spouses that are self-employed do not have the extra expense? If so what is the reason for this. Everyone has availability to obtain health insurance, be it via a group policy or private. I feel this is discriminating. Thanks

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Tiguer, One option would be to drop your spouse from the Mayo Medical Plan and let them enroll in their own coverage through their employer. That's why this topic comes up during Open Enrollment because this would be your opportunity to make that change. You'll need to evaluate the premium amount charged by your spouse's employer and compare that to the cost of spouse premiums and surcharge at Mayo Clinic. Additionally, consider the out-of-pocket expenses in each plan (deductible, coinsurance, out-of-pocket maximum). If you decide to make a change, be sure to do that in Employee Self-Service between November 1st and 15th.

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I agree with Sue. My spouse has coverage through their employer but it does not compare to the coverage I get through Mayo. I can see the spousal surcharge if their insurance is comparable or above what Mayo offers but when it is below what Mayo has I don't see why we have to pay the surcharge. It doesn't make sense to have him covered under his employee insurance and than add him to mine to cover the different because we would be paying twice as much in monthly premiums. But it is what it is and because of that I will pay the extra $75 dollars a month which is a lot cheaper than paying my husbands monthly premiums.

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Hi Ramona - thanks for your comment!

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I am also concerned about the spousal surcharge fee. I feel my spouse is being penalized for working. If he was unemployed, retired or self-employed a surcharge would not apply, however because he has a job and is offered insurance even through the employer coverage is just as expensive as private insurance, we are being charged a fee through the Mayo Plan. We have chosen the Mayo Plan to keep our care at the Mayo facility verses taking out my spouses insurance which would take our health are to a different non-Mayo facility. I feel we are paying double coverage to have my spouse on the insurance plan offered through Mayo.

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I share the same concerns of those above. I have a friend who chooses not to work outside the home. My family will be paying $900/year more for the same insurance, because my husband works. Don't we all technically have access to health insurance through the exchange or private insurance? We should not be penalized for having a spouse that works somewhere benefits are offered. Often times those benefits are not affordable, and/or they require a different non-Mayo healthcare provider. If the premiums of the plans need to be increased then so be it,; then we would all share in the increased expense, not just 2 income families. Will these concerns be directed to healthcare benefit decision makers for the future or how do I best make this concern known? Thank you for your time.

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