[OEBBBUSMAN] OEBB -- Scheduling an open enrollment meeting for the 2011-12 plan year

Fri Jun 3 22:12:12 PDT 2011

Dear Superintendents, Business Managers and Benefit Administrators:

OEBB is once again preparing for the upcoming annual open enrollment
period.  In addition to offering health, dental, vision, life,
disability, AD&D, and long term care coverages and an Employee
Assistance Program, we will be introducing OEBB's newest partner in
providing options to meet entity and employee benefit needs - U.S. Bank
will be the preferred vendor for health savings accounts (HSAs)
beginning October 1, 2011.

Many of you arrange for open enrollment meetings and/or benefit fairs so
employees can learn about benefit and plan changes in addition to new
plan offerings available at your educational entity. OEBB staff will be
available to provide an overview of program and plan changes for the
2011-12 plan year, including more information about the dependent
eligibility verification review.  In our efforts to continue to educate
our members about health care coverage, we will also spend some time
explaining the steps and process of comparing health plans to help
employees select the medical and/or dental plan(s) that best meet their
needs. Carrier representatives will be available to present more details
about their plans and answer any questions employees might have as they
consider their benefit plan choices for the next plan year.

This year OEBB will continue to offer both venue types - open enrollment
meetings and benefit fairs.  However, it is very important that your
employees have the opportunity to hear about the plan design changes and
program additions that will go into effect on October 1, 2011.  The
interaction during a benefit fair doesn't really allow for this.  This
year we will again ask that all benefit fairs be scheduled to
immediately follow an OEBB open enrollment presentation. We anticipate
open enrollment information sessions will need to be a minimum of two
hours for your employees to fully understand the plan offerings and
changes for the upcoming plan year and how to begin making their benefit
plan selections.

We have recently heard there may be some interest in OEBB being
available for computer labs this year as well.  If you are interested in
this, please note it on the form.  The computer lab must also be
scheduled to immediately follow the open enrollment presentation and
could potentially be held in conjunction with a benefit fair.  Again, we
will attempt to meet as many needs for meetings, benefit fairs and
computer labs as we possibly can.

With the addition of a health savings account (HSA) vendor, we
anticipate entities may have enough employees interested in the tax
savings an HSA can offer to schedule a special meeting to help employees
learn more about ODS Medical Plan 9 (the HSA-compliant OEBB plan
offering) and U.S. Bank's HSA account offering.  If you are interested
in scheduling a time for this specialized look at the plan and the
account, please note that on the form as well.  These special meetings
should also be scheduled to immediately follow an open enrollment
presentation and could also be held in conjunction with a benefit fair
and/or computer lab.  

We will once again schedule open enrollment meetings by region
throughout the state and encourage coordination between districts
whenever possible.  This is not required, but would be appreciated by
OEBB staff as we want to be able to make the best use of our staffing
resources during this time period.  The dates we will be in the various
areas are listed below.  

*  Northeast Oregon and Eastern Oregon - August 15 to August 24
(Umatilla-Morrow; Union-Baker; Region 18; Malheur; Treasure Valley CC;
Blue Mountain CC) 

*  Southern Oregon (areas south of Roseburg) - August 22 to August 31
(South Coast; Douglas; Southern Oregon; Rogue CC; Southwestern Oregon
CC; Umpqua CC; Lake Klamath CC)

*  Central Oregon - August 22 to August 31 (Grant; Harney; High Desert;
Jefferson; Region 9; North Central; Central Oregon CC; Columbia Gorge
CC) 

*  Portland/Metro Area & Willamette Valley - August 15 to September 9
(Clackamas ESD; Multnomah; Portland CC: Clackamas CC; Mt. Hood CC;
Willamette; LBL ESD; Lane ESD; Lane CC; Linn-Benton CC) 

*  Northwest Oregon - September 1 to September 9 (Northwest Regional;
Clatsop CC; Oregon Coast CC; Tillamook CC) 

Our goal is to provide this important information to every employee for
the 2011-12 plan year.  If you are an ESD or entity representative
coordinating or scheduling meetings in your area, please complete the
attached form and return it to Rose Mann at rose.mann at state.or.us no
later than close of business on June 30, 2011.  We hope to meet the
specific dates and times of each request, but we may need to contact you
to negotiate a different date or time to allow us to coordinate our
journeys throughout the state. You can also find the attached form on
the "Educational Entity Forms and Reports" page of our website:

http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/eeForms.shtml

If you have any questions, please contact Linda Tullis at 
linda.tullis at state.or.us <mailto:%20linda.tullis at state.or.us> , or by
calling 1-888-4MyOEBB (1-888-469-6322).  Thank you for your continued
support and cooperation as we prepare for a successful 2011 Open
Enrollment. 

Sincerely,

Denise L. Hall

Deputy Administrator

Oregon Educators Benefit Board

http://egov.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB <http://egov.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB> 

(503) 378-5133

(503) 378-5832 FAX

OEBB has a new weight management program and will be adding dependent
coverage effective October 1, 2011!  Pass it on..... 
http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB/WeightMgmt.shtml
<http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/OEBB/WeightMgmt.shtml>  

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