To enroll as newly eligible, employees must complete all of the appropriate forms that must be submitted as a package. In completing the STD. R and/or STD. C, the following information should be entered on the form(s) by the Personnel Office:
Effective Date: Current or prospective basis (i.e. First of the following month when the correctly completed enrollment form is received at SCO by the th AND does not have to be returned to the agency for correction). The last possible effective date for a newly eligible enrollment is December.
Remarks: Indicate how the employee became newly eligible (i.e., new hire, new marriage, birth of child, etc.)
The term newly eligible only applies to employees who are not currently enrolled in any of the FlexElect options and meet the above criteria. This means that current FlexElect enrollees who request enrollment into another FlexElect option are processed as changes, not newly eligible enrollments.
Required Notice for Medical Reimbursement Account (MRA) Enrollees
Departments are required to fax lists provide each MRA participant (at the time of enrollment) with an Initial COBRA Notification, which outlines participant rights to continue participation under COBRA should they lose coverage based on a qualifying event. Please see Section for additional COBRA information.
Permanent-Intermittent (PI) Enrollment
Permanent-Intermittent (PI) employees may enroll, but have limited eligibility. The only FlexElect option available to a PI is the Cash Option. PI employees are not eligible to enroll a Medical and/or Dependent Care Reimbursement Account.
All PIs who expect to qualify for FlexElect during the next plan year must make an election to enroll in the Cash Option during the FlexElect Open Enrollment Period by completing a Cash Option Enrollment Authorization (STD. C). Participation in the FlexElect Program will be contingent on meeting the required eligibility criteria. In the event PIs who have enrolled during the open enrollment period do not qualify, their STD. C form, which was retained by the Personnel Office during open enrollment, should not be processed. The employees will have another opportunity to enroll in FlexElect during the next open enrollment period.
PI employees hired after the open enrollment period, but prior to January of the next plan year, may enroll in FlexElect, however, they must meet the eligibility criteria (as outlined in the Section 's Cash Option - PI Employees) before their Cash Option enrollment can become effective.
PI employees who enroll in FlexElect may not cancel or change their FlexElect elections, including their choice of State-sponsored health and/or dental plans, during the plan year unless they experience a valid change in status event as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations. Please see Section , Election Changes/Change in Status Events, for information regarding changes in status events.
In addition to changes or cancellations that PI employees may initiate as a result of a valid change in status, their participation in the FlexElect Program is contingent on meeting the specific eligibility criteria for the PI Eligibility for Cash Option in Section of this manual.
PI's and the Premium Only Plan (POP)
With the Premium Only Plan (POP), the employees' share of their health and/or dental insurance premiums is deducted from their paycheck before federal, state, and social security taxes are withheld. Please see Section for more information regarding POP.
PI Eligibility for POP
In order to participate in POP, PI employees must qualify for health/dental benefits by earning at least paid hours during each control period (January through June; and, July through December) or to continue enrollment, at least paid hours during two consecutive control periods (prior and current). If after enrolling in a health and/or dental plan, PIs pay an out-of-pocket premium deduction, it will automatically be deducted on a pretax basis. Since POP enrollment is automatic there are no enrollment forms required.
