State of Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller MEMORANDUM NO. 2004-03a

INTRODUCTION: CORE-CT Benefits Administration - Benefits Billing is used to bill employees for the employee share of 1) health insurance premiums (medical/prescription and dental) and 2) group life insurance premiums, when the employee is not receiving a payroll check. This will occur when an employee is on an authorized, qualifying unpaid leave or certain paid leaves. Benefits Billing must be used to ensure continuation of coverage and proper payment to the carriers, and replaces all previous billing procedures. The state share of the premium will only be allocated and paid to the carrier for employees who have paid their share of the premium either through payroll deductions or through benefits billing. The employee's benefits will be cancelled if the carriers do not receive 100% of the premium payment on behalf of that employee for two (2) consecutive months. Note that retroactive reinstatement of coverage will not be allowed and COBRA does not apply when benefits are cancelled due to non-payment of premiums.

PROCEDURE: The following is an overview of the Benefits Billing procedure. Employee enrollment (activation and inactivation) in Benefits Billing is derived from Leave and Return From Leave events that are entered into Job Data. Therefore, it is imperative that these events be entered and processed accurately, on a timely basis and in order of occurrence.

When a leave event that removes the employee from payroll is entered on the Job Data page (Administer Workforce>Administer Workforce (GBL)>Use>Job Data), the Benefits Administration Process will automatically activate the employee in Benefits Billing once the leave event is processed through On-Demand Event Maintenance. The leave event will open and allow for election entry in order to give the employee the option to change their current class of coverage, waive a specific benefit or cancel coverage of benefits. If the employee chooses to keep their current benefits, the agency should check the finalize/apply defaults box which will maintain the employee's current elections. Employees are not entitled to COBRA if they choose to waive any benefits.

Once the leave event is processed, Benefits Administration will activate the employee's enrollment in benefits billing and stop payroll benefit deductions. Agencies are advised to check the Billing Enrollment page after a job event occurs which removes an employee from payroll to ensure accurate Benefits Billing enrollment (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Use>Billing Enrollment). Benefits Administration will create and activate a Benefits Billing enrollment record for all benefit plans and coverage options that the employee is enrolled in as of the date of the leave event. Activation dates in the Benefits Billing enrollment record, as determined by Benefits Administration, must not be changed. For example, an employee with a leave effective date of 12/3/2004 will be activated in Benefits Billing on 12/20/2004; an employee with a leave effective date of 12/22/2004 will be activated in Benefits Billing on 01/20/2005. Refer to the attached Benefits Billing Calendar for the monthly effective dates of activation.

Special Instructions for Higher Education: The Benefits Billing activation process does not apply to part time higher education employees who do not have a qualifying leave event to activate them into Benefits Billing. These employees must be enrolled manually with the correct effective date in accordance with the Benefits Billing Calendar. For example, an employee hired on 12/29/2004 would be eligible for medical/prescription, and dental coverage effective 2/1/2005. The Benefits Billing enrollment record must be entered with a billing effective date of 1/20/2005. The billing status is active and the billing reason is manual.

Beginning December 20, 2004, for the Billing Period of January 2005, the Billing Calculation process will run centrally. Agencies will no longer run the Billing Calculation process.

At the start of each monthly billing period (see the Benefits Billing Calendar for the monthly dates) the centralized Billing Calculation batch process will run. This process will only calculate charges for an employee who is 1) enrolled in a health plan (medical/prescription/dental) and/or life insurance plan; 2) enrolled in Benefits Billing with the correct billing dates; and 3) whose Billing Status is ACTIVE at the time the billing calculation process is run. The agency must manually enter charges for an employee whose billing status is INACTIVE at the time the calculation process runs.

Agencies can review the monthly charges to verify accuracy prior to generating the monthly billing statements to determine if any charge adjustments are required (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Inquire>Employee Balance Review). To review the charges for a specific timeframe and benefit plan, navigate to the Charge Review page (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Inquire>Charge Review).

Retroactive charge adjustments will be required when a retroactive change is made to an employee's record that affects benefit premiums (i.e., birth of child, removal of overage dependent) for a prior billing period that has been processed by the Billing Calculation batch process. For example, an employee (active in Benefits Billing) who is enrolled in individual health coverage notifies the agency on 12/22/2004 that he was married on 11/27/2004 and wants to add a spouse to his health plan. Once the family status change is entered to change the class coverage to individual plus one, the spouse will be covered effective 12/1/2004. The Billing Calculation batch process for 12/04 was previously calculated therefore, a charge adjustment must be made to increase the amount of the premium to reflect the class coverage change for 12/04. Beginning with the 01/05 benefit month, the Billing Calculation process will reflect the updated class coverage premium amount.

Agencies must generate billing statements for each employee out on a leave by running the Billing Statements by Department report (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Report>Billing Statements by Dept). When generating the billing statements, the billing period must be entered for the benefit month that was calculated centrally. For example, if the Billing Calculation batch process has run for December 2004, the billing period must be entered as 1204. Prior to distributing billing statements, it is advisable to review the statements for accuracy in order to prevent billing errors. Billing statements must be distributed promptly after the billing calculation batch process is run as the employee's payment due date is the 3rd day of the benefit month.

Employees who are active in Benefits Billing are billed on a monthly basis based upon the benefit month. Generally, the benefit month is the 20th of the month to the 19th of the following month (refer to the attached Benefits Billing Calendar). Payments are due by the 3rd day of the benefit month. (Example: For the December 2004 benefit month, the billing period is 1204 and will appear as 11/20/04 - 12/19/04. The payment due date is 12/3/04.) Payments entered after the 3rd day of the benefit month are considered delinquent. To view delinquent accounts, navigate to the CTBNR256 - Delinquent Accounts by Department report (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Report>Delinquent Accounts by Dept.). Also review the CTBNR259 - Payment and Discrepancy report (Compensate Employees>Administer Automated Benefits>Report>Payment and Discrepancy).

Note that Benefits Administration will not allow payment to a carrier for employees whose records are listed as a discrepancy. Strict adherence to this schedule is required to insure proper crediting of payment to the employee's record and timely payment to the carriers to ensure no lapse in coverage of benefits.

All bills are generated for the monthly premium amount. Employees must pay the monthly amount in full in order for the state share of the premium to be generated to the carriers. The billing statement will include all health insurance and group life insurance amounts owed to date by that employee. The billing statement will instruct the employee to make a check/money order payable to "Treasurer, State of Connecticut". Checks/money orders should be mailed to the address on the statement. Checks must only be accepted for the amount due. Do not accept advance payments. Do not accept payments if a bill has not generated through Benefits Billing.

The monthly premium for employees in a bi-weekly pay group is the bi-weekly amount multiplied by 26, divided by 12. The amount an employee is required to pay is determined by their Benefit Billing status on the last day of the benefit month. For example, an employee whose biweekly medical premium share is $57.47 will be charged as follows:

Benefit Billing Status on the last day of the benefit month	Inactive
Biweekly Premium	$ 57.47
Number of paychecks in the benefit month	2
Premium due for month	$ 114.94

Benefit Billing Status on the last day of the benefit month	Active
Biweekly Premium	$ 57.47
Biweekly Premium multiplied by 26	$1,494.22
Divided by 12	$ 124.52
Premium due for month	$ 124.52

Agencies must enter payments on the Payment Entry page (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Use>Payment Entry). Once the employee ID number is entered, the allocation detail of the outstanding charges will be displayed. Upon entering the amount into the payment field, the system will automatically apply the payment to the oldest unpaid charges.

When a job/return from leave event occurs that returns the employee to payroll, Benefits Administration will automatically inactivate the employee in Benefits Billing once the return from leave event is processed through On-Demand Event Maintenance. The return from leave event will open and allow for election entry in order to reinstate their previous elections if a change was entered on the initial leave event. If no change occurred in the initial leave event, click Finalize/Apply Defaults and then validate/finalize to inactivate Benefits Billing enrollment. Once the return from leave event is processed, Benefits Administration will inactivate the employee's enrollment in benefits billing and payroll deductions will resume. Benefits Administration will inactivate the Benefits Billing enrollment record for all benefit plans and coverage options that the employee is enrolled in as of the date of the return from leave event. Agencies are advised to check the Billing Enrollment page to ensure the employee has been properly inactivated from Benefits Billing (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Use>Billing Enrollment). Inactivation dates in the Benefits Billing enrollment record, as determined by Benefits Administration, must not be changed. For example, an employee with a return from leave effective date of 12/4/2004 will be inactivated in Benefits Billing on 12/20/2004; an employee with a return from leave effective date of 12/22/2004 will be inactivated in Benefits Billing on 1/20/2005.

If an employee terminates employment while active in Benefits Billing, the system will inactivate the employee in Benefits Billing once the termination event is processed through On Demand Event Maintenance. The Benefits Administration inactivation date will be the first of the month following the date of the termination event. For example, an employee terminates employment on 12/10/2004; the benefits are terminated effective 1/1/2005 and Benefits Billing enrollment is inactivated as of 1/1/2005.

Special Instructions for Higher Education: The Benefits Billing inactivation process does not apply to part time higher education employees who do not have a qualifying return from leave event to inactivate their benefits billing record. These employees must be inactivated manually with the correct effective date in accordance with the Benefits Billing Calendar.

To ensure accurate payments to the carriers and avoid cancellation of coverage, employee payments must be applied to the proper account. Agencies are required to provide their business office with the correct deposit information. All employee checks/money orders for health insurance and group life insurance must be deposited as follows:

	Health Insurance	Life Insurance
Account	20920	20920
Fund	34003	34003
Department ID	OSC15910	OSC15910
Program	00000	00000
SID	42351	42341
Project ID	OSC_NONPROJECT	OSC_NONPROJECT

The following reports are available in Core-CT to assist with the Benefits Billing process:

Leave of Absence by Dept. (Administer Workforce>Administer Workforce (GBL)>Report>Leave of Absence by Dept.)

CTBN002A - Enrollment Statements (Compensate Employees>Administer Automated Benefits>Report>Enrollment Statements)

CTBNR006 - Missing Elections Report (Compensate Employees>Administer Automated Benefits>Report>Missing Elections)

CTBNR255 - Accounts Receivable by Dept. (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Report>Accounts Receivable by Dept.)

CTBNR256 - Delinquent Accounts by Dept. (Compensate Employees>Administer Benefits Billing>Report>Delinquent Accounts by Dept.)

CTBNR259 - Payment and Discrepancy (Compensate Employees>Administer Automated Benefits>Report>Payment and Discrepancy)

For further details see the Benefits Reports job aid available on the Core CT website at:

CONCLUSION: For additional information on Core-CT Benefits Administration - Benefits Billing refer to the Web Learning Assistant - Benefits Administration. Questions related to this communication should be directed as follows:


	STATE OF CONNECTICUT
NANCY WYMAN COMPTROLLER	OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER 55 ELM STREET HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106-1775	MARK OJAKIAN DEPUTY COMPTROLLER

ATTENTION:	Personnel and Payroll Officers, Chief Administrative Officers, Business Managers
SUBJECT:	CORE-CT Benefits Administration - Benefits Billing Procedures Updated