November is Open Enrollment time for benefits, and this year some important changes are coming.

An Open Enrollment Web site will be activated beginning November 1 with complete benefits information and materials available (http://benefitsu.stanford.edu). This year, for the first time, every employee will be enrolling online via this BenefitSU Web site.

Even if you do not intend to make changes in your benefits at Open Enrollment, SLAC Benefits Manager Teresa Cervantes encourages all employees to look at their packages. "Open them, please!" she said. "Maybe your medical plan is not changing, but your co-pay could be changing or maybe your provider is not available any longer. It’s really important. It’s better to know at Open Enrollment than when you’re standing in the doctor’s office."

Another important consideration is prescription drugs. "Each plan has its own formulary of drugs that are covered," Cervantes said. "So we think, ‘If my doctor is prescribing a medicine it will be covered.’ That’s not always the case. Especially if employees are switching medical plans, they want to make sure about their coverage. Even if a drug was covered under their previous plan it may not be covered under the new plan." Furthermore, the formulary can change from one year to the next even under the same plan.

Monthly insurance rates are going up for 2003 and there will be changes in co-pay for medical appointments as well as for prescriptions. Most of the medical providers will remain the same. If you choose to keep the medical and dental insurance plans that you already have you do not need to take any action.

However, those of you who have Blue Cross (CaliforniaCare) will be automatically transferred to the PacifiCare Plan effective January 1, 2003, unless you designate a different provider at Open Enrollment. The CaliforniaCare plan will continue through the end of this year. Cervantes advises to be sure to check and see if your doctors are available through PacifiCare.

A new option this year is Definity Health*, a consumer-driven health plan. Stanford will deposit from $1,000-$2,000 (the amount depends on the number of family members covered) in a personal care account. "From that," says Cervantes, "an employee will pay for health care expenses. Once that money is used up the employee is responsible for a $500 deductible. After the deductible plus the Stanford deposit is used up, the plan becomes more like a PPO. The employee has a choice of any provider and most providers will accept it."

Cervantes said, "This plan is probably for the employee that is pretty healthy and doesn’t go to the doctor a whole lot."

When asked what mistakes people often make she said, "The biggest thing we’ve seen every year for the past 12 years is that employees forget that the Health Care and Dependent Day Care Spending Accounts, which are the pre-tax savings accounts, have to be renewed. That is an IRS rule not a Stanford rule. So where everything else just rolls over to the next plan year (unless you wish to change to a different plan) you must re-enroll in the health care and dependent care tax-free funds."

According to Cervantes, "We expect to have vendors here for medical, dental, life insurance, long term care and the retirement plans. Representatives from the Stanford Credit Union and the Stanford Clinic come too."