{"id":530,"date":"2016-04-05T10:10:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T14:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/?p=530"},"modified":"2016-04-05T10:12:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T14:12:09","slug":"annual-enrollment","status":"public-archive","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/2016\/04\/05\/annual-enrollment\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Enrollment: April 6 \u2013 May 4 for Changes Effective July 1, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Annual enrollment time is here, giving you the opportunity to review your benefit options and choose a new health plan if you wish.&nbsp; <em>If you want to keep your current Group Insurance Commission (GIC) health plan, you do not need to fill out any paperwork. <\/em>&nbsp;<em>Your coverage will continue automatically.<\/em><strong>&nbsp; <\/strong><strong>Take action during Annual Enrollment! Consider enrolling in a <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/benefit-decision-guides\/active-employee-benefit-dec-guides\/consider-enrolling-in-a-less-expensive-plan.html\"><strong><u>less expensive health plan<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<strong>&nbsp; <\/strong>Please take this opportunity to think about what you and your family need in the way of health care.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watch the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/annual-enrollment-video.html\"><u>Annual Enrollment video<\/u><\/a> to find out the steps you should take during Annual Enrollment and tips on how to lower your out-of-pocket costs.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to read your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/benefit-decision-guides\/municipal-benefit-dec-guide\/download-benefit-decision-guides-and-at-a.html\"><em><u>GIC Benefit Decision Guide<\/u><\/em><\/a> for annual enrollment details.<\/p>\n<p>Do your homework during annual enrollment, even if you think you don\u2019t want to make any changes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review the <em>GIC Benefit Decision Guide<\/em> for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/benefit-decision-guides\/municipal-benefit-dec-guide\/employee-health-plan-changes.html\"><u>benefit<\/u><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/benefit-decision-guides\/rates\/municipal-enrollee-rates.html\"><u>rate<\/u><\/a> changes effective July 1, 2016.<\/li>\n<li>Consider enrolling in a limited network or less expensive wide network plan to save money every month on your premiums.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Contact <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/employee-health-and-other-insurance-benefits\/health-plans\/municipal-enrollees\/health-plans-for-municipal-employees-and-non-medicare-retirees-and-survivors-without-medicare\/\"><u>the plans<\/u><\/a> to find out if your doctors and hospitals still participate in your plan.&nbsp; Specify the plan\u2019s <strong><em>full<\/em><\/strong> name, such as \u201cTufts Health Plan <em>Spirit<\/em>\u201d or \u201cTufts Health Plan <em>Navigator,<\/em>\u201d not just Tufts Health Plan.<\/li>\n<li>Check on copay tier assignments that affect what you pay when you get specialist or hospital services.&nbsp; Copay tiers can change each July 1 with new data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your <em>GIC Benefit Decision Guide<\/em> is an overview of GIC benefits; it is not a comprehensive plan handbook.&nbsp; There may be other services that you and your family need.&nbsp; Contact each plan to find out details about those benefits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Keep in mind!<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; Once you choose a health plan, you <strong><em>cannot <\/em><\/strong>change plans during the year, unless you have a qualifying event, such as moving out of the plan\u2019s service area, or you are retiring a are eligible for Medicare (in which case you must enroll in a Medicare plan).&nbsp; If your doctor or hospital leaves your health plan, you must find a new participating provider in your chosen plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>See the GIC\u2019s website for the latest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/benefit-decision-guides\/municipal-benefit-dec-guide\/annual-enrollment-news.html\"><u>annual enrollment news<\/u><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/forms\/existing-municipality-forms\/\"><u>forms<\/u><\/a> to expedite your decisions, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/status-changes\/\"><u>answers to frequently asked questions<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp; View and print from our website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/employee-health-and-other-insurance-benefits\/health-plans\/active-state-employees\/summary-of-benefits-and-coverage.html\"><u>Summary of Benefits and Coverage<\/u><\/a> documents, required by federal health care reform, that provide a summary of a GIC plan\u2019s benefits and cost-sharing requirements<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mark the Date!&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/anf\/employee-insurance-and-retirement-benefits\/benefit-enrollment\/forms\/existing-municipality-forms\/\"><u>Enrollment forms<\/u><\/a> are due to your GIC Coordinator <strong>no later than Wednesday, May 4, 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Annual enrollment time is here, giving you the opportunity to review your benefit options and choose a new health plan if you wish.  If you want to keep your current Group Insurance Commission (GIC) health plan, you do not need to fill out any paperwork.  Your coverage will continue automatically. <a href=\"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/2016\/04\/05\/annual-enrollment\/\" aria-label=\"Read full article about Annual Enrollment: April 6 \u2013 May 4 for Changes Effective July 1, 2016\">Read full article<span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[330],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":531,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}