Open Enrollment for 2017 benefits ends at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 31. As a reminder, Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to choose or update the benefit options that best meet your and your family’s needs for 2017. Elections are effective Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2017. After the plan year starts on Jan. 1, 2017, you can only make coverage changes if you have a qualifying life event, like getting married or having a baby. Enroll now at vu.edu/oe.
Even if you don’t plan to make changes, you should log in to My VU Benefits to
- make sure your dependent and beneficiary information is up-to-date, correct, and complete;
- review your current elections; and
- attest to whether or not you and your covered family members use tobacco. You’ll save $20 per month on health insurance premiums if you’re committed to being tobacco-free.
If you don’t enroll, your insurance elections, except for flexible spending accounts, will remain the same, but skipping Open Enrollment could cost you. Here’s how:
- Tobacco-free status: Your tobacco use status will default to tobacco-user, so you’ll miss out on the $20 credit for being tobacco-free.
- Spouse coverage: You’ll pay a $100/month spousal coverage fee if your spouse is on the Vanderbilt Health Plan. If your spouse does not have access to another employer’s health plan or works for Vanderbilt University, you must elect this every year to avoid the fee.
You must answer both of these questions in your annual enrollment window every year to receive the credit or avoid the fee.
FSAs
If you fund flexible spending accounts (FSAs) for health care or dependent day care expenses, you must re-enroll every year. You will have until March 15, 2018, to use funds deposited in your FSA during 2017. Unused funds will be forfeited, so choose your amounts wisely. For more information about how FSAs work, watch the Health Care FSA and Dependent Day Care FSA videos.
Update beneficiaries
Review or update life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance beneficiaries as well as retirement beneficiaries, even if you have done so before. You should verify that the names and allocations for each beneficiary of these policies are correct. Beneficiaries are not necessarily the dependents on your health plan and need to be separately named.
Need help enrolling?
Stop by Human Resources on the 10th floor of the Baker Building (110 21st Ave. S.) before 5 p.m. today, Oct. 31. To enroll you will need your active VUnetID and password. Visit vu.edu/oe for more information.