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

COMPTROLLER'S MEMORANDUM NO. 2010-16

May 25, 2010

TO THE HEADS OF ALL STATE AGENCIES

I. INTRODUCTION

The state employee health insurance annual open enrollment period will be held from May 17, 2010 through June 11, 2010, for coverage effective July 1, 2010. In that connection, this memorandum establishes available health plan choices, health insurance rates, effective payroll dates, and enrollment procedures.

Open enrollment fairs will be held statewide during the open enrollment period; the schedule of fairs has been issued in Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services Division Memorandum 2010-01. Full details of plan choices will be available at the open enrollment fairs and in the HealthCare Options planner that has been mailed to all employees.

With the exception of those employees currently enrolled in Health Net, employees that do not respond during this year's open enrollment period, their health insurance status will remain unchanged (See below for details). Employees will be affected by any change in the deduction amount for their plans. Employees will not be able to enroll in, change, or add dependents to a plan other than during this open enrollment period, except under limited circumstances in response to changes in their work or family status. The employee is responsible for contacting their agency personnel/payroll representative to file the appropriate forms within 30 days of the event that necessitates a change in enrollment or plan.

II. PLAN CHOICES AND CARRIERS

A. Medical Plans - Effective July 1, 2010, the Health Net medical plans will no longer be offered to state employees and retirees. The Anthem and Oxford medical plans will continue to be offered. Current Health Net members will be automatically changed to the comparable Oxford medical plan (POS, POE, POE-G) for July 1, 2010 coverage, unless they choose another option. Further details on this change are in the HealthCare Options Planner. There will be no changes in medical benefits. The Employee shares are available in the Planner. If you are responsible for processing enrollment changes, please refer to the CORE-CT Job Aid revised 5/20/2010 for a detailed explanation of the enrollment process.

B. Prescription Drug Plan - For the 2010-2011 plan year there are no changes to the State's prescription drug offering.

C. Dental Plans - There are no changes to the State's dental plan offerings for the 2010-2011 plan year. UnitedHealthcare Dental will continue to administer two dental plans, the Basic Plan and the Enhanced Plan. The CIGNA DHMO plan remains available.

III. RATES

The health insurance rates for the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 have been modified to reflect the premiums negotiated with the carriers. The attached rate chart reflects the employee premium shares for the bi-weekly pay periods and includes monthly employee premium shares for benefits billing purposes. Also attached are the monthly COBRA and ARRA COBRA subsidy rates. The semi-monthly schedule will be distributed to agencies that so require.

IV. PAYROLL EFFECTIVE DATES

The premium changes announced herein are effective with the following payroll periods:

V. ENROLLMENT PROCEDURES

Employees who choose to remain with their existing plans do not have to complete a new health insurance enrollment statement.

All Enrollment Statements must be produced using the CORE-CT Benefits Administration system.

Agencies can begin printing Open Enrollment Statements anytime after Monday, May 17, 2010. Enrollment statements should be produced only for those employees seeking to make a change during this open enrollment period.

Agencies can enter new elections any time on and after May 17, 2010. Employees have until Friday, June 11, 2010 to return their completed Enrollment Statements. Agencies will have until close of business Friday, June 18, 2010 to complete data entry of employee elections.

Civil Union/Same Sex Marriage Enrollment:

All Civil Union/Same Sex Marriage enrollments or changes are to be processed by the Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services Division, Central Benefits Unit.

Employees seeking to add medical and/or dental coverage for their civil union partners/same sex spouses and dependent children should be instructed to submit the same documentation to their employing agency that is required of married employees. For federal income tax purposes, if the employee provides more than fifty percent of a civil union partner/same sex spouse's financial support, the employee should also provide a signed statement to their employing agency stating that fact.

The employing agency, not the employee, is required to submit a representation from the agency as to the employee's intent regarding health insurance coverage along with a copy of the above mentioned documents to the Central Benefits Unit.

Upon its receipt of these materials, the Central Benefits Unit will process the change to the employee's records in Core-CT associated with health care coverage for civil union partners/same sex spouses and will notify the agency of such action.

VI. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In conjunction with open enrollment, agencies may have other events such as new hires or family status changes. For these events, normal event maintenance processing will continue, for instance:

• For any employee hired/rehired on or after May 1, 2010, do not process benefits using the open enrollment event; instead enroll them in benefits under the hire/rehire event.
• For any family status change events on or after May 1, 2010 do not process benefits using the open enrollment event; instead enroll them in benefits under the family status change event.

In addition to printing Confirmation Statements for changes made as a result of family status, Confirmation Statements should also be printed for open enrollment changes.

Further information concerning open enrollment is available on the Core-CT website at:
http://www.core-ct.state.ct.us/user/hrjobaids/ben/default.htm

VII. NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES

Please inform your employees of the annual open enrollment and direct them to the Comptroller's web site at osc.ct.gov  to obtain the information necessary for them to make an informed choice during the open enrollment period.

The HealthCare Options planner has been mailed to all employees eligible for state-paid health benefits. Be advised that it has been mailed to the "HOME" address on the CORE-CT Personal Data page. If this address is other than the employee's home address, the Agency will be responsible for forwarding the planner to the employee. The planner will include a schedule of all applicable biweekly payroll deductions, and a description of available options. Planners that are rejected by the Post Office because of an incorrect address will be sent to the employing agency for address correction. The semi-monthly and 100% premium rate schedules will be sent to the affected agencies.

VIII. QUESTIONS

Personnel or payroll staff who have questions concerning this memorandum should contact the Comptroller's Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services Division, Central Benefits Unit, at (860) 702-3535. Kindly refrain from directing employees to this telephone number.

Very truly yours,

Nancy Wyman
State Comptroller

NW/TW

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