From oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Tue Jun 12 14:46:11 2012 From: oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Business Managers-OEBB) Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:46:11 +0000 Subject: [OEBBBUSMAN] =?windows-1252?q?Clarification_on_OEBB=92s_Long-term?= =?windows-1252?q?_Care_Coverage_through_Unum?= Message-ID: Dear Business Managers, Superintendents & Benefits Administrators: As the June 15th deadline for 2012-13 plan selection draws near, we feel it?s important to clarify some points regarding OEBB?s long-term care (LTC) coverage through Unum. Unum will continue to honor its current contract with OEBB and will continue to provide long-term care coverage to OEBB members. You may have received a communication from Unum explaining that they would no longer actively market LTC to new employer groups. This business decision at Unum?s corporate level has no effect on educational entities? ability to offer LTC through OEBB. OEBB holds a current contract with Unum and is considered an existing customer; therefore, any OEBB-participating educational entity is also considered an existing customer, even if you have not yet offered the LTC benefit to your employees. If you have employee groups who have not been offered LTC coverage in the past, this is the last opportunity they will have to enroll on a guarantee issue basis. These groups will still be allowed to add the LTC benefit at future Open Enrollments, but existing employees in those groups will need to submit medical evidence and be individually approved before their coverage will go into effect. We encourage groups who have not offered the LTC benefit before to add it as a voluntary option in 2012-13 so that existing employees who may not medically qualify in the future can have access to this guarantee issue coverage at the low rates available ONLY to OEBB members. Please note that if an employee group is already offering LTC coverage, or adds LTC coverage as an option this year, new hires continue to have guarantee issue coverage available during their initial eligibility period, but existing employees will need to provide medical evidence for any level of coverage after October 2012. If you have any questions regarding LTC coverage, please contact OEBB Member Services by phone at 888-469-6322, or by e-mail at oebb.benefits at state.or.us. You may also contact Unum directly at 800-227-4165. Thank you, Jackie Cowsill Communications Coordinator Oregon Educators Benefit Board -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Wed Jun 13 11:27:45 2012 From: oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Business Managers-OEBB) Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:27:45 +0000 Subject: [OEBBBUSMAN] OEBB -- 2012 Open Enrollment Meetings Message-ID: Dear Superintendents, Business Managers and Benefit Administrators: OEBB is once again preparing for the upcoming annual open enrollment period. In addition to offering health, dental, vision, life, disability, AD&D, and long term care coverages, a preferred vendor for health savings accounts (HSAs) and an Employee Assistance Program, we will be introducing OEBB's newest partner in providing options to meet entity and employee benefit needs - Chard Snyder will be the preferred vendor for flexible savings accounts (FSAs) beginning October 1, 2012 - to employees in entities that have decided to use Chard Snyder for their FSA administration. Many of you arrange for open enrollment meetings and/or benefit fairs so employees can learn about benefit and plan changes in addition to new plan offerings available at your educational entity. OEBB staff will be available to provide an overview of program and plan changes for the 2012-13 plan year. In our efforts to continue to educate our members about health care coverage, we will spend some time explaining the steps and process of comparing health plans to help employees select the medical and/or dental plan(s) that best meet their needs. We will also share some information about how employees can identify and reduce health risks to help them feel better and save on current and future health care expenses. Carrier representatives will be available to present more details about their plans and answer any questions employees might have as they consider their benefit plan choices for the next plan year. This year OEBB will continue to offer both venue types - open enrollment meetings and benefit fairs. However, it is very important that your employees have the opportunity to hear about the plan design changes and program additions that will go into effect on October 1, 2012, and the interaction during a benefit fair often doesn't allow for this. This year we will again ask that all benefit fairs be scheduled to immediately follow an OEBB open enrollment presentation. We anticipate open enrollment information sessions will need to be just under two hours for your employees to fully understand the plan offerings and changes for the upcoming plan year and how to begin making their benefit plan selections. As more individuals become interested in the tax savings HSAs and FSAs can offer, we can also schedule special meetings to follow the open enrollment session to help employees learn more about ODS Medical Plan 9 (the HSA-compliant OEBB plan offering) and U.S. Bank's HSA account offering, and/or the FSA benefit available through our newest vendor partner, Chard Snyder, for those entities that have elected to use the OEBB partners for these services. If you are interested in scheduling a time for a special HSA and/or FSA meeting, please note that on the form as well. These special meetings should also be scheduled to immediately follow an open enrollment presentation and could also be held in conjunction with a benefit fair. We will once again schedule open enrollment meetings by region throughout the state and encourage coordination between districts whenever possible. This is not required, but would be appreciated by OEBB staff as we want to be able to make the best use of our staffing resources during this time period. The scheduling form will ask if you are willing to allow employees from other educational entities in the area to attend your meetings. We may also be considering setting up meetings at nearby community locations when possible or feasible to allow more options for employees to be able to attend these informational sessions. Open meetings and meetings scheduled in community locations will be posted on our website sometime in early August. The dates we will be in the various areas are listed below. The regions are divided a little differently than you see traditionally, so we identified the ESDs and community colleges considered to be in each of the areas. * Southeast Oregon - Week of August 20: Harney; Lake; Malheur; Treasure Valley CC; Blue Mountain CC * Southwest Oregon- Week of August 27: South Coast; Douglas; Southern Oregon; Rogue CC; Southwestern Oregon CC; Umpqua CC; Klamath CC * Central Oregon - Weeks of August 27 and September 3: North Central; Jefferson; High Desert; Central Oregon CC * Portland/Metro Area & Willamette Valley - Weeks of August 20, August 27 and September 3: Willamette; LBL; Lane; Lane CC; Linn-Benton CC;; Columbia Gorge ESD; Columbia Gorge CC; Clackamas ESD; Multnomah; Portland CC: Clackamas CC; Mt. Hood CC * Northeast Oregon & Northwest Oregon - Weeks of August 27 and September 3: Inter-Mountain; Union-Baker; Region 18; Grant; Northwest Regional; Clatsop CC; Oregon Coast CC; Tillamook CC Our goal is to provide this important information to every employee for the 2012-13 plan year. If you are an ESD or entity representative coordinating or scheduling meetings in your area, please complete the attached form and return it to Rose Mann at rose.mann at state.or.us no later than close of business on June 29, 2012. We hope to meet the specific dates and times of each request, but we may need to contact you to negotiate a different date or time to allow us to coordinate our journeys throughout the state. You can also find the attached form on the "Educational Entity Forms and Reports" page of our website at: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/docs/2012OEMtgReqForm.pdf If you have any questions, please contact Linda Tullis at linda.tullis at state.or.us, or by calling 1-888-4MyOEBB (1-888-469-6322). Thank you for your continued support and cooperation as we prepare for a successful 2012 Open Enrollment. Sincerely, Denise L. Hall Denise L. Hall, Deputy Administrator Oregon Educators Benefit Board http://egov.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB (503) 378-5133 (503) 378-5832 FAX OEBB encourages all members to stay healthy and be happy!!!! Pass it on..... http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/WellLinks.shtml *****CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE***** This e-mail may contain information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the addressee or it appears from the context or otherwise that you have received this e-mail in error, please advise me immediately by reply e-mail, keep the contents confidential, and immediately delete the message and any attachments from your system. ************************************ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 2012 Open Enrollment Form.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 460212 bytes Desc: 2012 Open Enrollment Form.pdf URL: From oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Jun 21 09:43:31 2012 From: oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (Business Managers-OEBB) Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:43:31 +0000 Subject: [OEBBBUSMAN] We want to hear from you! Log-in to OEBB's BIE Meeting today at 2pm Message-ID: Dear Benefits Administrators, Business Managers and Premium Contacts - To facilitate two-way communication with our participating entities, OEBB created the Benefits Information Exchange (BIE). On the third Thursday of every month (excluding August and September) from 2 - 4 pm, OEBB hosts a webinar/meeting where we share what's going on at OEBB, answer your questions and invite your feedback. Typical agenda items include a summary of that month's Board meeting, updates on system changes, advance notice of upcoming OEBB communications, report demonstrations, and anything else that may be happening that month. We hope you'll join us today and mark your calendar for the future. Please spread the word to others in your organization who may be interested. Anyone involved in your benefits program is welcome and encouraged to participate. The agenda and handout for today's meeting is attached, and today's log-in details are below. ________________________________ Here is the login information for your OregonConnect webinar. Webinar Details: Add this webinar to your calendar: https://oregonconnect.ilinc.com/calendar/bfrysbh/czjrtzzz Title: OEBB BIE Meeting Date & Time: 06/21/2012 at 02:00 PM Pacific Time (Occurs the Third Thursday of every month except August and September) Duration: 2 hour(s) Leader: Mary French Join this webinar: Join Link: https://oregonconnect.ilinc.com/join/bfrysbh/czjrtzzz (this is on the agenda as well) Enter your phone number after log-in, the iLinc system will call you. Want to prepare your system ahead of time? https://oregonconnect.ilinc.com/systest/bfrysbh For technical assistance, click here. ________________________________ We hope you'll join us and spread the word to others. Thank you. 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