From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Feb 1 13:46:26 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 13:46:26 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] OEBB DEV Audit Update Message-ID: Dear Business Managers and Benefits Administrators: On Monday, January 30th, Towers Watson identified those OEBB members selected for the Dependent Eligibility Verification (DEV) Audit whose documentation had not yet been received by the Verification Center. Towers Watson will mail reminder letters to those members this Friday, February 3rd. OEBB staff members are currently preparing the list of employees and retirees to whom this letter will be mailed as well as a status report of all members selected for the DEV Audit by entity. We appreciate your patience during this process and will load each entity's list into the document management area of the MyOEBB admin module as soon as it is available, no later than close-of-business February 3rd. A copy of this Friday's reminder letter (and all DEV communications) can be found on the Entity Resources page of the OEBB website: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/eeResources.shtml The direct link to the PDF of communications is: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/docs/DEV_DocsA-K.pdf Within this PDF package, the reminder letter being mailed this Friday is labeled "Document H". In the January meeting of OEBB's Benefits Information Exchange (BIE) Group, OEBB staff announced plans to send a similar reminder Friday, February 3rd to this same group via Certified Mail. Since that meeting, OEBB has revised that decision and instead will send a second reminder via First-Class Mail next week to those remaining members whose documentation has not been received by the Verification Center as of February 6th. A copy of that communication will be posted to the Entity Resources page of the website as soon as it is available. We appreciate your help in reminding these members of how important it is to provide the necessary documentation in order to maintain OEBB coverage for their eligible dependents. Thank you, Jackie Cowsill Communications Coordinator Oregon Educators Benefit Board Voice: (503) 378-5353 Fax: (503) 378-5832 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Feb 2 10:56:22 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2012 10:56:22 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] OEBB DEV and Audit Reports Available Message-ID: Good Morning, OEBB has posted an Excel report in your MyOEBB Document Management entitled "Entity Name DEV Status". This report reflects data in the Verification System as of Monday, January 30th and can be sorted to show you several categories: Proof Required - Members who haven't responded to the audit yet. Proof Pending - Members who have responded for all or certain dependents and their documentation is going through a verification process with Towers Watson. Eligible - Members who have responded for all or certain dependents and a listing of their dependents who are eligible. Remember, this could mean that they still haven't turned in documentation for all dependents yet. Not Eligible - Members have responded that certain dependents aren't eligible. These dependents will be termed at the end of the month reported. Insufficient Documentation - Members who have responded for all or certain dependents but haven't submitted adequate documentation. For example, for a DP a member would have to submit an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership plus a lease agreement showing both names on the lease and the member has only submitted one document as of this report. We want to thank each entity for their assistance with the audit process and would appreciate your ongoing help in communicating to members the importance of providing the necessary documentation in order to maintain OEBB coverage for their eligible dependents. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact OEBB Customer Support at 1-888-469-6322 or the Dependent Verification Center at 1-888-814-1194. Thanks, Linda Tullis Benefits Manager Oregon Educators Benefit Board 1225 Ferry Street SE Salem, OR 97301 Office: (503) 378-3329 Fax: (503) 378-5832 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Fri Feb 3 13:25:38 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2012 13:25:38 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] DEV Audit Deadline Extended to Feb. 24 Message-ID: Dear Business Managers, Superintendents, & Benefits Administrators: OEBB is extending the DEV Audit deadline an additional two weeks. Members selected for the audit will now have until 11:59PM Friday, February 24 to submit documents supporting the eligibility of their enrolled dependents. Towers Watson originally planned to send reminder letters today (February 3) to those who had not submitted any documents as of January 30. However, as most of you are probably well aware, there were some problems associated with the status of employees' records in the Towers Watson audit system. Towers Watson is working to clear up the discrepancies and will send the reminders out either Monday or Tuesday of next week. Towers Watson will run an updated report of those members who have not responded as of Monday, February 6 and will instead mail a reminder letter that includes the new February 24 deadline either late Monday or on Tuesday (February 6 or 7). OEBB will also notify these members of the extension Monday or Tuesday, by e-mail if possible or by USPS mail if no e-mail address was provided. We will also post the revised deadline on our website this afternoon. If you hear from members in the meantime, please feel free to inform them of this recent decision and that they should be receiving a formal communication from us soon. Copies of all the DEV communications can be found on the Entity Resources page of the OEBB website: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/eeResources.shtml. We will continue to update this page with any document revisions or additions as these changes occur. The revised Towers Watson Reminder Letter and OEBB's announcement of the extended deadline will be posted there as soon as possible. OEBB's goal in conducting the DEV Audit is to identify and remove dependents who are not eligible for coverage. We want to ensure members with eligible dependents on their plans have ample time to gather the appropriate documents and maintain that coverage. Thank you for sharing this information with your members and helping them understand the importance of submitting their documentation by the new February 24 deadline. Also, thank you for your patience and cooperation as we make adjustments to meet the needs of our members. Sincerely, Denise L. Hall Denise L. Hall, Deputy Administrator Oregon Educators Benefit Board http://egov.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Feb 7 11:01:04 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 11:01:04 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] FW: Unum LTC Announcement Message-ID: Dear Educational Entities: You may soon receive the message below from UNUM. OEBB just became aware of this communication and clarified with UNUM ... this does not affect OEBB plans in any way. Educational Entities will still be able to purchase Long Term Care coverage through OEBB, the same as in the past. If your entity does not yet offer this coverage, you may still elect to add it in an upcoming plan year. If you currently offer LTC through OEBB, your plans will not be affected in any way. We apologize if their communication causes any confusion. Thank you. Jackie Cowsill Communications Coordinator Oregon Educators Benefit Board ________________________________ Feb. 7, 2012 Dear valued customer: After a careful and comprehensive review, we have decided to end sales of new group long-term care contracts as of today, Feb. 7. Although we recognize there is a market need for products to help individuals pay for long term care expenses, current economic, pricing and risk factors make it impossible for us to meet our financial and risk management objectives. The decision to discontinue selling new group long term care policies will not affect current customers or impact the high quality of service we provide to current policyholders and claimants. Additionally, we will continue to accept new enrollees on existing contracts. Unfortunately, we are not the only insurer to reach this conclusion as many others have now exited the long term care market given the combination of historically low interest rates and the uncertainty of risk and pricing trends. We believe this decision is in the best interest of all of our policyholders, as it allows us to sharpen our focus on the markets and products that provide the greatest long term opportunity for our company and are more compatible with our financial and risk management objectives. Additional information is available here [see below]. If you have any additional questions, please call our Customer Support area at 800-227-4165, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. Thank you for your understanding, as we recognize that this change may have an impact on you. We appreciate your continued support of Unum. Sincerely, Unum Long Term Care Operations Diana Scott National Account Manager Unum 111 SW Columbia Street, Suite 900 Portland, OR 97201-5851 503.721.9552 f 503.221.2258 dscott at unum.com Privacy & Confidentiality of Information Notice: This communication may contain non-public, confidential, or legally privileged information intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, or have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email or telephone at 503-721-9552 and delete all copies of this communication, including attachments, without reading them or saving them to a disk. If you are the intended recipient, you must secure the contents in accordance with all applicable State or Federal requirements related to the privacy and confidentiality of information, including the HIPAA Privacy guidelines. Unum is a registered trademark and marketing brand of Unum Group and its insuring subsidiaries. Plan Admin Q&As - Unum's market exit/GLTC After a careful and comprehensive review, we have decided to end sales of new group long term care contracts as of Feb. 7, 2012. Impact * This decision does not impact the high quality of service we provide to current policyholders and claimants. We will continue to administer existing policies, including accepting future enrollees on those policies. * All current employees on claim will continue to receive their benefits in accordance with the terms of their policy. * All future employee claim submissions will be honored and processed according to the terms of the policy. Additional Q&As: Q. Isn't Unum a leader in this market and growing a strong business? A. Unum is a leader in the GLTC market. We are serving more than 9,000 employer groups, covering approximately 800,000 insured employees and their families. While we recognize there is a market need for products to help individuals pay long term care expenses, current economic, pricing and risk factors make it impossible for us to meet our financial and risk management objectives. Q. Will you accept any changes to existing group plans? A. We will continue to administer existing group plans, including accepting future enrollees on existing policies. Existing contractual provisions will still apply. Q. Will I notice any difference in my service relationship with Unum? A. This change will not impact our current relationship with existing customers. Q. How long will Unum support existing customers? A. Unum will provide responsive service to its group customers until they terminate their plans and discontinue paying premiums. Q. How long will Unum support my employees who are on claim? A. Unum will support all eligible long term care claimants covered by either individual or group policies who are on claim, or who will submit claims in the future. These claims will be reviewed and administered according to policy provisions. Q. Will Unum adjust its staffing support for GLTC? A. The customer service and claims teams will be fully staffed to meet the needs of our existing group customers, and current and future claimants. We have about 5,000 open claims for group and individual long term care, and expect that number to increase as policyholder's age. Q. Does Unum have any plans to increase rates on existing policies and certificate holders? A. We continue to assess the experience of our inforce blocks to determine if that is necessary. While we do anticipate some increases on our older contract series, any increase needs to be approved by the state insurance department before it is effective, so we are not in a position to communicate any details about timing or magnitude. Unum will provide ample lead time for customers to evaluate an increase if one is approved for their contract series. Q. What do I tell my employees about this change? A. Your employees should be reassured that Unum is committed to supporting these plans and the employees who are on claim or may be on claim in the future. There are no changes to the coverage or contractual rights of current insureds. Q. Who should I call If I have questions about my Unum GLTC plan? A. If you have additional questions, please call our Customer Support area at 800-227-4165, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Picture (Device Independent Bitmap) 1.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2648 bytes Desc: Picture (Device Independent Bitmap) 1.jpg URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Feb 7 15:52:25 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 15:52:25 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] OEBB sending notice of DEV deadline extension with reminders Message-ID: Dear Educational Entities: Earlier today OEBB received two lists from Towers Watson: * Those selected for the DEV Audit from whom they have not received any documentation, and * Those selected for the DEV Audit from whom they have received insufficient documentation OEBB will be sending reminders to these members shortly, notifying them of their status and the extended deadline of February 24. These messages will be sent out via e-mail (personal e-mail if one is available, otherwise work e-mail) or hard copy USPS mail if the member has no e-mail address in the system. If your entity typically blocks OEBB e-mails from reaching your employees at work, please instruct your IT department to look for these messages and allow them to get through. They will be sent via the listserv: oebb_alltopic at listsmart.osl.state.or.us. We want to ensure all of these members are aware of their status and the extended deadline. You can find copies of these communications, as well as all the communications relating to the DEV, on the "Entity Resources" page of the OEBB website: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/eeResources.shtml. If you have further questions, please contact OEBB Member Services by phone at 888-469-6322 or e-mail: oebb.benefits at state.or.us. Thank you, Jackie Cowsill Communications Coordinator Oregon Educators Benefit Board Voice: (503) 378-5353 Fax: (503) 378-5832 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Feb 8 08:46:13 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2012 08:46:13 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] OEBB DEV Review and Audit Non-Responders Report Message-ID: Good Morning, OEBB has posted an Excel report in your MyOEBB Document Management entitled "Entity Name Non-Responders as of 2-07-2012". This report reflects data in the Verification System as of Tuesday, February 7th and includes only members which have not responded to the audit in any capacity or have only verified dependents without turning in the required documentation. We want to thank each entity for their assistance with the audit process and would appreciate your ongoing help in communicating to members the importance of providing the necessary documentation in order to maintain OEBB coverage for their eligible dependents. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact OEBB Customer Support at 1-888-469-6322 or the Dependent Verification Center at 1-888-814-1194. Thanks, Linda Tullis Benefits Manager Oregon Educators Benefit Board 1225 Ferry Street SE Salem, OR 97301 Office: (503) 378-3329 Fax: (503) 378-5832 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Feb 14 10:09:44 2012 From: myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (MyOEBB system updates) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:09:44 -0800 Subject: [MyOEBB] DEV Audit Update/February BIE Meeting canceled Message-ID: Dear Educational Entities: OEBB's Benefits Information Exchange (BIE) Group will not be meeting this month, but we wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on the Dependent Eligibility Verification (DEV) Audit currently underway. Last week OEBB extended the audit deadline for submitting documentation an additional two weeks. Members selected for the audit now have until 11:59 p.m. February 24, 2012, to submit acceptable documentation supporting their dependents' eligibility for OEBB benefits. Towers Watson provided OEBB with a list of "non-responders" (i.e., members selected for the audit who had not yet submitted any documentation). OEBB notified these members of the extension via e-mail and regular mail and reminded them of the importance of submitting their documentation. You can find that communication, as well as all the communications relating to the DEV, on the "Entity Resources" page of the OEBB website: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/eeResources.shtml. In response to that reminder letter and the non-responder lists we placed in the educational entity document management section of MyOEBB, OEBB received a number of calls and e-mails from members who had in fact submitted their documentation, but were still appearing on the list. Towers Watson researched the situation and discovered a processing error had occurred. They are currently drafting a letter of apology and explanation to all affected members, which will be delivered later this week. If you have further questions, please contact OEBB Member Services by phone at 888-469-6322, or by e-mail: oebb.benefits at state.or.us. Thank you, Jackie Cowsill Communications Coordinator Oregon Educators Benefit Board -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: