Benefits Human Resources

Life Change Events include the following:

Change in Legal Marital Status:

• Marriage
• Divorce
• Court-recognized legal separation (a court Decree must have been entered)
• Death of spouse
• No longer qualifying as a domestic partnership

Change in Number of Family Members:

• Birth of a child
• Placement of a child for adoption, foster care or legal guardianship (court-appointed guardianship documentation is required)
• Death of an enrolled family member
• Family members ceases to satisfy eligibility requirements

Employment Status Change (applies if the event affects the employee, employee’s spouse/domestic partner, or employee’s child):

• Termination of employment – does not apply for an employee rehired by the University after a break in employment of 31 days or less
• Commencement of employment
• Strike or lock-out
• Unpaid leave of absence
• Newly hired into a benefit-eligible position from an ineligible position
• Position is no longer benefit-eligible
• Change in FTE (limited changes)

Involuntary Loss of Other Health Coverage

Change in Medicaid or CHIP Eligibility

Significant Change in Dependent Care Cost (Applicable to Dependent Care FSA Only)

Employees can enroll, cancel or change elections in the Employee Health Care Plan and enroll in FSA accounts during Open Enrollment each year.

Following a Life Change Event, employees may make one of the following changes (the change must be consistent with the Event):

• Employee Health Care Plan:  enroll in coverage, cancel coverage, add family members, or drop family members (does not include enrolling in or dropping the Dental Plan)
• Flexible Spending Account Plan:  make an election, change existing election, or cancel existing election

Changes must be made within 90 days of the date of the Life Change Event or before June 30 (the end of the plan year), whichever is earlier.

If you enroll or add family members, the change will be retroactive to the date of the Life Change Event and retroactive payroll deductions will be taken.

If you cancel coverage or drop family members, the change will be retroactive to the date of the Life Change Event.  Payroll deductions will be stopped or changed when the change is entered in UBenefits (unless the Life Change Event is later).  Amounts already deducted from pay will not be refunded.

If your family member loses eligibility, the change will be retroactive to the date the individual was no longer eligible under the plan rules.  Payroll deductions will be stopped or changed when the change is entered in UBenefits or when UHRM is notified (unless the Life Change Event is later).  Amounts already deducted from pay will not be refunded.

For events other than loss of eligibility, if the change is not made within 90 days of the date of the Life Change Event, it cannot be made until the next Open Enrollment. Open enrollment is in May each year, with changes effective on the following July 1^st.

To make a change after you experience a Life Change Event:

• Log in to Ubenefits
• Select the “Change your Benefits” Tile
• Select the tile that best describes your event
• Input the date of the event
• Follow the prompts, and submit the information

Shortly after the changes have been submitted you should receive an email confirmation indicating all changes. To ensure that your coverage reflects the changes indicated during the process, you can log on to UBenefits the following day and click View your Benefits.  All changes should be reflected accordingly.