Open enrollment for 2011 faculty benefits starts Monday and continues through Nov. 18, featuring a non-revisit policy unlike last year.

This time frame is the only time of the year when faculty, staff, graduate assistants and fellows, and part-time instructors who are eligible for benefits may change insurance coverage, with the exception of a qualifying life event, according to an Oct. 11 Syracuse University news release.

This year features a change that employees who wish to retain last year’s benefits do not need to reconfirm their benefits, said Karen Morrissey, the director of benefits, compensation and HR services in the Office of Human Resources. This policy was recently reinstated.

The exception is for those who use a flexible spending account, for which changes must be elected each year, Morrissey said. An FSA is an employee benefit program that allows one to put money aside for health care and dependent care expenses, according to fsafeds.com.

‘The number of benefit changes for this Open Enrollment are not as significant as last year and as a result we are comfortable that individuals and their families will have access to the necessary information in the regular process of elections during Open Enrollment,’ Morrissey said in an email.

Changes in benefits included a shift from a three-tier model to a four-tier model, said Kal Alston, senior associate provost for academic affairs. The three-tier model featured employee only benefits, employee plus spouse benefits and employee plus family benefits. The four-tier model added an option of employee plus spouse and plus child benefits in 2010, Alston said.

‘Last year was unique, but aside from that, the four or five previous years that I have been here we’ve always had the non-revisit policy. Staff don’t have to go and revisit. We have a waiver. If they didn’t sign up we’d assume they were sticking with their plan,’ Alston said.

Morrissey cited convenience as a reason, but faculty members do not necessarily agree.

Carolina Vargas, a teaching associate in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, said she thinks it is a good idea to review benefits every year.

‘They change it only in November; it’s difficult to make decisions if your situation changes,’ Vargas said. ‘It can be inconvenient.’

Miriam Elman, associate professor of political science, said she thought it was important to re-evaluate benefits.

‘In my former place of employment we did not have to manually re-enroll. I was glad at SU we were compelled institutionally to look at our options,’ Elman said.

Faculty and staff were informed of the non-revisit policy via open enrollment communications, which include a website, newsletter and information sessions, Morrissey said.

Both Elman and Vargas said they were unaware of the changes but said they both receive many emails and could have missed one.

‘Maybe it’s just cost saving, maybe faculty were complaining that it was burdensome, but there could be unintended consequences from not revisiting options,’ Elman said. ‘You have to always revisit.’

kfluttma@syr.edu

Published on November 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm