Insurance

1st: Decide what, if any, insurance options you would like to elect. 

For specific information regarding plan details please consult the Summary Plan Description document for each plan. For more information regarding any changes effective 7/1/08, please reference the Spring 2008 Flex Flyer or contact HR Services directly.

The following are employee per pay contributions for Medical:

MEDICAL*

HealthAmerica/HealthAssurance (POS)

Please be advised of the following Medical changes:

• Employee contributions (premium chart above) are based on the employee's annual salary as of July 1, 2008
• Physician office visit copay will increase for primary care physician from $10 to $15 and specialist physician from $10 to $20

The following are employee per pay contributions for Dental and Vision:

Please be advised of the following:

• Dental - slight increase in employee contribution and no change in coverage
• Vision - no change in employee contribution or coverage

SUPPLEMENTAL ACCIDENTAL DEATH and DISMEMBERMENT (AD&D)

You can purchase additional voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance for you and your family through The Hartford*.

• $0.034 per $1,000 of coverage for individual level
• $0.052 per $1,000 of coverage for family level

Please note: The College provides "free" AD&D for full-time employees as part of the employer paid life insurance benefit.

*Employee are eligible to enroll in the plans or change enrollment through the open enrollment process or within 31 days of becoming a regular full-time employee or when certain family status changes occur.

**17 pay employees are support staff employees who are FT, but who work a non-12 month schedule (example: FT 9 months, PT 3 months). Insurance benefits for those who work these types of schedules are deducted during the 17 pay periods of the academic year when the employee works a FT schedule.

Flexible Spending Accounts

2nd: Would you like to set aside pre-tax income to cover anticipated health and/or dependent care expenses that are not covered by insurance? If so, how much PER PAY?

• Health Care Expense Account*** - The maximum amount allowed is $5,000 to help cover out of pocket health care expenses.  Examples of covered expenses include copayments, coinsurance, or services not covered under medical, dental, or vision insurance plans. Note: IRS publication 502 governs items that are reimbursable under a health care expense account.
• Dependent Care Expense Account***- A $5,000 maximum or up to the total salary of the lower paid spouse (whichever is less) covers work related dependent care expenses. Note: IRS publication 503 governs items that are reimbursable under a dependent care expense account.

***To avoid forfeiture, all claims must be expensed and paid in full by September 15.

Retirement

3rd: Dickinson's EMPLOYER contribution will increase from 6% to 7% on July 1, 2008. Employees with at least one year of full-time service are eligible and MUST allocate that additional percent to either TIAA-CREF or Fidelity during open enrollment.

How much of your own salary would you like to set aside for your retirement fund and how will you invest that money? Current retirement contributions will continue into 2008-09 if no changes are made.

Please Note: This amount is in addition to the College's 7% direct contribution for eligible employees. You may elect to put funds into one, two, or all three of the 403(b) retirement programs (TIAA-CREF RA, TIAA-CREF GSRA or Fidelity).

• CONTRIBUTION LIMITS: For 2008, the annual employee contribution limit via payroll deduction to a 403(b) is $15,500 regardless of income level.
• CATCH-UP DEFERRALS FOR EMPLOYEES AGE 50 OR OLDER: The IRS allows employees age 50 and older in 2008 to make an additional $5,000 elective deferral to their 403(b) accounts, making their total elective deferral maximum $20,500 for 2008.
• EMPLOYEES WITH 15 OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE: If you have more than 15 years of consecutive service with Dickinson, you MAY BE eligible to contribute even more to your tax deferred annuity plan. Please contact HR Services if you are interested in finding out more about this possibility.

While we have provided you with these general guidelines, ultimately you are responsible for making certain that you do not exceed more than your personal limits.

Miscellaneous

4th: You may also make certain after-tax contributions. Consider supporting Dickinson's Annual Fund by contributing money on an after-tax basis through payroll deduction.  You may also choose to increase your retirement contributions by putting after-tax dollars into an Emeriti or IRA account.

Starting the process:

Now all that remains for you to do is start the open enrollment process.  To do that, log in to the Gateway and select the Banner Self Service tab.