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Open enrollment ends next week

Open enrollment for University of Colorado employees ends at 5 p.m. Friday, May 21. All information needed to enroll for benefits – including final rates, plan descriptions and comparisons, and defaults should you take no action – is available at www.cu.edu/pbs/openenrollment.

To enroll online, look for the "Enroll Online Now" button in the upper right hand corner of any page on the open enrollment website.

Enrolling children up to age 27

As a result of recent federal healthcare reform legislation, children up to age 27 are eligible for University of Colorado health and dental plan coverage for the 2010-11 plan year. You must elect coverage for your children and verify their eligibility with Payroll & Benefit Services (PBS) during the open enrollment period. Required documents must be submitted by 5 p.m. May 21. Health coverage provided for these children is now generally tax-free, which will eliminate the need to mark them as federal or qualified tax dependents. However, employees and retirees enrolling a same gender domestic partner (SGDP) and SGDP children will need to mark them as tax dependents. If not, they will by default be designated nonfederal/nonqualified tax dependents and be subject to additional taxes (imputed income).

The state of Colorado has not extended eligibility to classified employees' children up to age 27 for its health plans (State Kaiser and the other state plans) and dental plans for the 2010-11 plan year.

Dependent eligibility verification

All dependents – including your spouse, common law spouse or same gender domestic partner (SGDP) – must be verified to continue their coverage starting July 1. If you completed the dependent verification audit via Secova, you will not have to re-verify. If you are adding new dependents for coverage effective July 1, you must verify their eligibility with Payroll & Benefit Services during the open enrollment period and submit required documents by 5 p.m. May 21. There is no guarantee of dependent coverage if required documents are not received by the deadline.

COBRA participants

CU employees who have dependent children currently enrolled in COBRA because they are over 25 years are now eligible to be re-enrolled in the CU medical, dental and/or life insurance plans effective July 1; the employee must verify the COBRA participants' eligibility and enroll them in employee plans by 5 p.m. May 21.

University of Colorado Blue Preferred PPO Plan

The Blue Preferred plan is not offered for the 2010-11 plan year. Current participants must elect another plan or be defaulted into the Anthem Lumenos plan at the current coverage level (employee only, employee plus spouse, family).

University of Colorado HMO Colorado Plan

Only employees and eligible dependents already enrolled in this plan may elect to continue coverage for the 2010-11 plan year. No new enrollment is allowed.

Mandatory enrollment for employees enrolled in a state of Colorado medical or dental plan

If you are a classified employee currently enrolled in a state of Colorado medical plan (including State Kaiser and the other state plans) or dental plan, you must take action during open enrollment. If not, you will not have coverage on July 1.

Cafeteria plans (formerly CU Flex)

You must re-enroll and actively elect your annual contributions for health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts each year at open enrollment.

Optional term life insurance

If you and/or your spouse, common law spouse or SGDP are nontobacco users, meaning that you have not used tobacco products within the past 12 months, you are eligible for a discounted rate in the Optional Term Life/AD&D Insurance Plan. Complete the appropriate section on the Benefits Enrollment/Change Form or online web application to receive the discounted rate. If your status changes from a nontobacco user to a tobacco user, you must notify PBS immediately.

If you have questions about plans, dependents or requirements, e-mail payroll.benefitservices@cu.edu. If you have technical questions about online enrollment, e-mail oesupport@cu.edu.

Did You Know... offers tips and information from CU's Employee Learning and Development office and others. To submit an item, e-mail Jay.Dedrick@cu.edu