[OEBBBUSMAN] OEBB -- 2012 Open Enrollment Meetings

Wed Jun 13 11:27:45 PDT 2012

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, a preferred vendor for health savings accounts (HSAs) and an Employee Assistance Program, we will be introducing OEBB's newest partner in providing options to meet entity and employee benefit needs - Chard Snyder will be the preferred vendor for flexible savings accounts (FSAs) beginning October 1, 2012 - to employees in entities that have decided to use Chard Snyder for their FSA administration.

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 2012-13 plan year. In our efforts to continue to educate our members about health care coverage, we will 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. We will also share some information about how employees can identify and reduce health risks to help them feel better and save on current and future health care expenses.  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, 2012, and the interaction during a benefit fair often doesn't 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 just under 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.

As more individuals become interested in the tax savings HSAs and FSAs can offer, we can also schedule special meetings to follow the open enrollment session to help employees learn more about ODS Medical Plan 9 (the HSA-compliant OEBB plan offering) and U.S. Bank's HSA account offering, and/or the FSA benefit available through our newest vendor partner, Chard Snyder, for those entities that have elected to use the OEBB partners for these services.  If you are interested in scheduling a time for a special HSA and/or FSA meeting, 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.

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 scheduling form will ask if you are willing to allow employees from other educational entities in the area to attend your meetings.  We may also be considering setting up meetings at nearby community locations when possible or feasible to allow more options for employees to be able to attend these informational sessions.  Open meetings and meetings scheduled in community locations will be posted on our website sometime in early August.

The dates we will be in the various areas are listed below.  The regions are divided a little differently than you see traditionally, so we identified the ESDs and community colleges considered to be in each of the areas.

*         Southeast Oregon - Week of August 20: Harney; Lake; Malheur; Treasure Valley CC; Blue Mountain CC

*         Southwest Oregon- Week of August 27: South Coast; Douglas; Southern Oregon; Rogue CC; Southwestern Oregon CC; Umpqua CC; Klamath CC

*         Central Oregon - Weeks of August 27 and September 3: North Central; Jefferson; High Desert; Central Oregon CC

*         Portland/Metro Area & Willamette Valley - Weeks of August 20, August 27 and September 3: Willamette; LBL; Lane; Lane CC; Linn-Benton CC;; Columbia Gorge ESD; Columbia Gorge CC; Clackamas ESD; Multnomah; Portland CC: Clackamas CC; Mt. Hood CC

*         Northeast Oregon & Northwest Oregon - Weeks of August 27 and September 3: Inter-Mountain; Union-Baker; Region 18; Grant; Northwest Regional; Clatsop CC; Oregon Coast CC; Tillamook CC

Our goal is to provide this important information to every employee for the 2012-13 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<mailto:rose.mann at state.or.us> no later than close of business on June 29, 2012.  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 at: http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/OEBB/entity/docs/2012OEMtgReqForm.pdf
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 2012 Open Enrollment.

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
(503) 378-5832 FAX

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

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