MySLC

The below FAQs are available through a presentation to download/save for future reference. 

Unless you have a qualifying event, open enrollment is your annual opportunity to update or choose the benefit options that best meet your needs for 2025.

You can elect or make changes to:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Dependent Care Account (DCA)
• Supplemental Life Insurance
• Legal Insurance

A qualifying life event is a change in your life, either planned or unplanned, that has an impact on your insurance coverage. Some examples include:

• Losing or gaining health coverage through a spouse’s plan
• Turning 26 and losing coverage through a parent’s plan
• Getting married or divorced
• Having a baby or adopting a child
• Death in the family

Supporting documents must be submitted to Human Resources within 30 days of the event.

Enrollment for the 2025 plan year begins on November 4th and ends on November 15, 2024. All plan changes must be submitted to jestevez@sarahlawrence.edu by November 15, 2024 for a January 1, 2025 effective date.

• edHealth: Sarah Lawrence College is a member of a consortium of higher education institutions who work together in an effort to contain health insurance costs. In a consortium model through edHEALTH, the College, along with its consortium peers, have the ability to select a (1) separate insurance network, (2) third-party administrator (TPA), and (3) pharmacy provider, resulting in increased competition for these services.
  1. Cigna PPO: Insurance network of doctors, hospitals and facilities that accept our plan, and provide negotiated rates for services.
  2. Luminare Health: A third-party administrator (TPA) is responsible for the customer-facing functions of a health insurance plan. These functions include claims processing and resolution and general customer service.
  3. Optum Rx: Pharmacy provider that determines the pricing of prescription medications.

When you present your insurance card at the doctor’s office or pharmacy it will be clear that your insurance network is Cigna and that your prescription carrier is Optum Rx. Doctors and facilities will contact Luminare Health to verify your insurance coverage and employees will contact Luminare Health for any billing or claims questions.

• POS (highest cost plan): provides both in and out-of-network benefits. There is a small deductible and 20% coinsurance for out-of-network services. This plan provides the greatest out-of-network benefits and is often best suited for employees who would like the option to regularly access out-of-network care.

• EPO (mid cost plan): The EPO plan provides the same in-network benefits as the POS plan, with an identical network of providers as the POS and HDHP. Unlike the POS, the EPO has no out-of-network benefits and may be best suited for employees who routinely access care from in-network physicians.

• High Deductible Health Plan (lowest cost plan): This plan has the same provider network as the POS and EPO plans and will require enrolled participants to first meet a deductible ($2,000 single / $4,000 family) before the insurance company pays all in-network claims at 100% (with the exception of prescriptions, which will be covered at the three-tier structure of the EPO and POS plans). While there is an out-of-network benefit on the HDHP plan, (unlike the EPO, where there is none) there is a significant deductible which must be met for out-of-network services.
  • The College will contribute 50% of the deductible ($1000 single / $2,000 family) to a health savings account for employees who enroll in the HDHP option.

• Review and understand the 2025 plan offerings and differences.
• Consider creating an account through Luminare to access details regarding your insurance usage over the last year and help you understand:
  • How often (if at all) you have accessed services out-of-network
  • Which types of benefits you have used most frequently
  • The costs and benefits associated with each of the individual plan options for your particular utilization of your insurance
• Review the Cigna network of providers, which will allow you to confirm if your current doctors participate in the Cigna network.
• Contact the Office of Human Resources to request a meeting

• The College does not benefit from an employee’s enrollment in any given plan. 
• The College contributes the same amount towards the cost of all single plans and the same amount towards the cost of all family plans.
• Insurance selections are a very personal choice, and the College encourages you to enroll in the plan that best suits your needs.

• Health insurance premiums were initially increased by 13.8%, however, as a result of adjustments to prescription coverage, there will be a 9.8% increase in medical premiums.
• Benefit-eligible, long term guest faculty (those with 10 or more years of service) are eligible to enroll in health insurance coverage under the same terms as tenure- and tenure-track faculty (based upon salary tier).

• There will be no change is the cost of coverage for Aetna Dental nor Vision VSP.

• Sarah Lawrence College’s benefit plans renew on a calendar year.
• You will automatically be defaulted into all of your current benefit elections for 2025. 

No action needed if you are staying in the same:

Medical (HDHP, EPO, PPO) plan option

Dental plan

Vision plan

• Reminder: Even if you are currently enrolled in a health savings account, flexible spending account, or a dependent care account, new enrollment forms must be submitted every year.

Other benefits that may be changed either during open enrollment OR throughout the year, without a qualifying event, include:

• Supplemental retirement contributions
• Health savings account contributions (HSA)
• Enrollment in Aflac, auto and home, pet, or identity theft insurance
• TransitChek elections