The statewide Joint Labor Management Committee met October 15th to discuss changes to next year’s health plan. There aren’t any large-scale changes in this off-cycle year, but there are some items to pay attention to. MOST important is Open Enrollment from October 25th-November 13th. Bear in mind that Veteran’s Day is right before the close of open enrollment; don’t wait until the last minute to review your coverages and make any changes! Two items discussed at the Joint Labor Management Committee (the task force that negotiates healthcare) include ensuring that you make elections that don’t automatically renew and double check that you’re getting the best value from your plan administrator/clinic selection.
Your Medical/Dental expense account can set aside from $100-3200 pretax for 2025; you can set that up in Open Enrollment. Your Dependent Care Expense Account, for expenses relating to dependents up to age 13 (or older if qualified) can set aside from $100-5000 per year. You would need to set up 2025’s amounts in open enrollment. There are other expense accounts available to you, and the details can be found at SEGIP’s website, https://mn.gov/mmb/segip/
Did you know that almost 15% of the members in SEGIP could be paying less for their clinic simply because they have selected a Cost Level 3 plan administrator instead of a Cost Level 2? People using Fairview clinics, for example, are paying Cost Level 3 by using HealthPartners but they could be paying Cost Level 2 if their plan administrator was Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Similarly, some clinics have moved to higher cost levels within the same plan administrators. The contracts between the care providers and the plan administrators are always changing. Now is the time to use the “Find a Clinic” tool at SEGIP’s website to make sure your selections are getting the best value! SEGIP is sending out emails to those they can identify who are affected by such changes, but it’s up to you to make the selection in open enrollment.
As we mentioned last month, there are some premium increases coming next year for most coverages. (Some are actually going down.) The most significant increases are for the health insurance, which will increase for employees on single coverage by $2.18 and employees on family coverage by $14.88 pay period. These increases do not pay for all the increased spending the plans have seen in the last year; they are offset by drawing down the fund reserves to a level recommended by the actuaries and intended to avoid a spike in the years to come.
For more detailed information on these topics and to make your open enrollment selections, please visit https://mn.gov/mmb/segip/