News from UHR... UHR News Home Archive

I. Introduction to Open Enrollment
II. Health Insurance Enhancements
III. New Vendors, New Offers
IV. Timing and Deadlines
V. Contact Information

Benefits Open Enrollment is upon us, and I am pleased to announce some wonderful new options this year. It's rare that we can augment benefits as well as lower some premiums -along with adding great new vendors that broaden your choices.

Open Enrollment is your opportunity to choose between the low- and high-premium health plans, add or drop a spouse or dependent, or sign up for a Flexible Spending Account. You can learn more on line or at our annual resource fair's information sessions; the fair is also a great opportunity to hear more about other benefits, such as the Tax Deferred Savings Plan or our Long Term Care Insurance, even though you may sign up for these benefits any time during the year.

All the materials that you need for Open Enrollment are on our Open Enrollment Web site, but I wanted to give you a few highlights of the changes you will see this year:

New health insurance enhancements for 2008 focus on wellness and prevention, including:

Low Premium Plan

• 100% coverage for immunizations in the Low Premium Plan
• 100% unlimited coverage for preventive diagnostic tests, lab tests and x-rays
• coverage for certain genetic tests
• coverage for prescription smoking cessation medications
• a family maximum out-of-pocket for co-insurance
• lower premiums

High Premium Plan

• 100% unlimited coverage for preventive diagnostic tests, lab tests and x-rays
• coverage for certain genetic tests
• coverage for prescription smoking cessation medications
• minimal increases over last year’s premiums

The low-premium plan is not for everyone, but could be ideal for the right individual or family. Click here for a more detailed comparison to help you evaluate which is the best plan for you.


Prescription Drug Coverage

Our prescription drug costs have risen, so the co-pays this year are slightly higher than last year’s. Please note that we have added a new tier of specialty medications at a higher cost than our other prescriptions. With the cost of those drugs averaging about $1500 a month, it is good to be able to continue to offer them to you at reduced prices. Our complete range of co-pays are:

2008 Prescription Co-Pays	Generic	Preferred	Non-Preferred
30-Day Retail	$9 (unchanged)	$22	$44
90-Day Mail Order	$21 (unchanged)	$52	$103
30-Day Specialty Medications	$25	$50	$75

• Brand new! We are pleased to introduce a new voluntary vision insurance benefit administered by Davis Vision, as well as continuing to offer our discount vision plan through Eye Benefits. The Davis Vision plan provides for an eye examination (with a specialist co-payment), as well as glasses or contacts every 12 months, while the discount plan gives you access to a national network of vision care professionals at discounted prices. Best of all, you can use the two plans simultaneously.


• Enhancements to Faculty Life Insurance. Faculty enrolled in the Faculty Retirement Plan, covered by The Standard Life Insurance, are now eligible to select a multiple-of-salary life insurance as well as elect spouse and child life insurance coverage. Faculty will receive a separate email with more information on this offer.


• This year our Dependent Care and Medical Care Flexible Spending Reimbursement program (also known as the FSA) is administered by a new vendor, Chard Snyder, and offers a debit card for customer convenience. The debit card is accepted at most medically-related vendors and does away with much of the paperwork necessary for reimbursement. FSAs are an excellent way to save on anticipated expenses, but please do remember that you are not automatically re-enrolled each year. You must sign up for the FSA program during the Open Enrollment period if you wish to participate in 2008.

• Open Enrollment begins on Nov. 5 and ends on Nov. 26, 2007. All Open Enrollment paperwork and on-line transactions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday, November 26 at the UHR Office of Employee Benefits. Tax law requires strict adherence to the Open Enrollment deadline, so there will be NO EXTENSIONS.


• The Fall Resource Fair featuring our benefits vendors, including Southern Health, United Concordia, CVS Caremark, Flexible Spending vendor Chard Snyder, the Standard, Liberty Mutual, Prudential, VRS, TIAA-CREF, Fidelity, and Vanguard, among others, will be held on Thursday, Nov. 15 at Newcomb Hall from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Office of Employee Benefits will present information sessions about this year’s benefit changes at 10 am, 11 am, 12 noon, and 1 pm. A detailed schedule of sessions is available at
  www.hrs.virginia.edu/openenroll/resourcefair.pdf.


• You will automatically remain in the health program you chose last year, either the High Premium or the Low Premium. If you wish to switch plans, you must complete a Program Election Form, which is available at
  www.hrs.virginia.edu/openenroll.html or from UHR.

The web site with all the information you need is www.hrs.virginia.edu/openenroll.html. Please visit it for more information about all of these benefit enhancements as well as schedules for information sessions, forms, deadlines, FAQs, and more.

If you have questions about the materials, or how you make changes to your benefits, please contact the Office of Employee Benefits by one of the methods listed below:

You can reach us by mail at: P.O. Box 400127 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4127 By Phone: 434-924-4392	By fax at: 434-924-4486	Walk-ins: Michie South 914 Emmet Street Charlottesville (A drop box is available to  the left of the entrance)
By email: openenrollment@virginia.edu