[MyOEBB] FW: Entity Opinions Needed

[MyOEBB system updates]

This is in follow-up to my email on November 26, 2014, asking whether you would support OEBB moving to a January through December plan year. In reviewing the responses received to date, I realized that a very important point of what this change might mean in relation to timing of workload was omitted from the communications. I want to clarify this point and at the same time, remind those of you who haven't responded that the deadline is December 15.

If the plan year were to change to January through December, we would propose that the open enrollment period begin on or around August 22 of each year and could run through October 15.  An entity would have the ability to communicate a later start date (MyOEBB would still open up on August 22) and could have the open period end any time before the October 15 official end date (just like an entity can close open enrollment early now).  This would allow entities that wanted to focus on open enrollment communications and trainings prior to the start of the school year to do so and allow entities that wanted to focus open enrollment communications and meetings after the school year has begun and staff aren't preoccupied with start-up activities to do so as well.  Also, entity benefit and payroll staff would have from October 15 to whatever date is the payroll cutoff date for January premiums to clean up enrollments.

I received some other feedback on the negative impacts this change may have on entities and new hires and all of the feedback will be included in our analysis and decision of whether to bring this proposal to the Board.  I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of how the open enrollment period would be handled in case this is a concern.

If you have already responded to the survey, thank you very much. If your response might have been different if the clarification above had been included in the original communication, you can just let me know via a return email if you'd like.

Below is my original email along with the links to the additional information and the survey.  Thank you again for your time and for helping OEBB staff know whether you would support a move to a calendar year plan year and why or why not.


Sincerely,

Denise L. Hall
Denise L. Hall, Deputy Administrator
Oregon Educators Benefit Board
http://egov.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB<http://egov.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB>
503-378-5133



Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 8:16 AM
To: oebbbusman at listsmart.osl.state.or.us; OEBBSUPERINFO at listsmart.osl.state.or.us; myoebb at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
Subject: [OEBBSUPERINFO] Entity Opinions Needed

Dear Business Managers, Superintendents and Benefits Administrators:

Currently OEBB's plan year runs from October 1 - September 30, with Open Enrollment occurring August 15 - September 15 for most participating entities. Over the past several years, some entities have expressed an interest in moving to a calendar year (January 1 through December 31) plan year. Before staff can prepare a proposal and/or recommendation for the Board to consider, we want to make sure we gather input from all of the OEBB-participating entities.

We have identified a number of impacts we know need to be taken into consideration as OEBB and entities determine whether changing the plan year is a good idea. Here is a link to a document outlining those impacts:

www.oregon.gov/oha/OEBB/entity/docs/2014/PlanYrConsiderations.pdf

Your thoughts, input and opinions are very important to OEBB.

Please take a few moments to review this document and then complete this short online survey to provide your feedback before December 15, 2014:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PlanYr

Timely responses will be crucial in creating a proposal that accurately represents all entities' interests, and the more detailed you can be in your responses, the better.

Thank you for your time and valuable opinions.

Sincerely,

Denise L. Hall
Denise L. Hall, Deputy Administrator
Oregon Educators Benefit Board
http://egov.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB<http://egov.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB>

OEBB encourages all members to stay healthy and be happy!!!!     Pass it on.....
http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/pages/welllinks.aspx




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