- October 2007
Benefits can be made only if qualifying status change events occur. You have 31 days from the date of the event to notify your campus Benefits Office and change your benefit selections. If you do not make your changes during the 31-day Status Change Period, your changes cannot be made until the next Annual Enrollment in July, to be effective the following September 1.
The list below includes common examples of qualified Change of Status.
Your benefit changes must be consistent with your Change in Status. For questions regarding changes of status, please refer to OEB Policy 310 or contact your campus Benefits Office. Note: Evidence of Insurability may be required for some benefit changes if you wait until Annual Enrollment instead of enrolling during the 31-day Status Change Period.
Did you know you can review your current benefits in U.T. Touch all year long? Even
though benefits enrollment is only accessible during annual enrollment each July, benefits
information is available year round. You can update your communication preference (either
email or paper), view the Benefits Summary, or quickly access plan details. The log-in
options are the same as those during annual enrollment and are outlined on the U.T. Touch
home page. If you do not remember your PIN and have a valid email address on file, you can
click on the “Forgot PIN / Change PIN” link in the log-in box to have the PIN
resent to you; this is also an option for new employees who did not participate in annual
enrollment and have never received a Coverage Option/PIN Letter.
As you know, this year the Office of Employee Benefits (OEB) transitioned to a new
Benefits ID (BID) that serves as a more secure alternative to social security numbers.
BIDs are a unique, eight-digit, alphanumeric identifier assigned to each member and used
by all OEB vendors. Vendor usage of the BID provides members the convenience of only
needing to know one identification number, regardless of the number of plans they
participate in. New identification cards were issued by several of the vendors, so all
identification cards should now display the BID. Members can also obtain their BID by
logging into U.T. Touch
using one of the other login options or by contacting their local benefits office.
Please note the Blue Cross and Blue Shield cards’ identification number includes a “UTS0” prefix (i.e., UTS0XXXXXXXX). BIDs do not contain zeros or the letter “O,” so you may need to make your pharmacy aware that only the last eight characters are your BID to prevent problems during a prescription transaction.
Deductible - A deductible is the dollar amount of eligible expenses that must be incurred by a participant before benefits under the plan will be payable. The following benefits plans have these annual deductibles:
Reminders:
More information on UT FLEX is available at http://www.utflex.com.
From September 1, 2006 through August 31, 2007, UT SELECT Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) Customer Service received 403,452 telephone calls. For the same time period, there were 177,014 Web visits to BCBSTX Blue Access.
If you would like a specific topic discussed or have a question you would like answered in a future issue of this newsletter, please send your suggestions to benefits@utsystem.edu.
UT System Employee Benefits Website: www.utsystem.edu/benefits/
UT System Retirement Programs Website: www.utretirement.utsystem.edu
Your Local Benefits Office: www.utsystem.edu/benefits/contacts.asp#1