You are required to provide each qualified beneficiary the same open enrollment rights (e.g., group health plans) or rates (i.e., generally this is 102 percent of the cost to the group health plan [including both employer and employee contributions for coverage of a similarly situated plan participant or beneficiary who is not receiving COBRA coverage]) that you offer to similarly situated employees. Any new plans or rate updates will be needed for the Open Enrollment (OE) notice. If you are not changing any plans or rates, you will still need to notify HealthEquity | WageWorks that no changes need to be made.

If an employer makes an open enrollment period available for similarly situated active employees under the plan, qualified beneficiaries must be provided the same benefits, choices, and services. You should receive an Open Enrollment notification that will provide you with a breakdown of available plans from which you can elect.

Each qualified beneficiary must be provided the same open enrollment rights as similarly situated active employees. This means that the open enrollment rights apply separately and independently to each qualified beneficiary in the family unit (i.e., spouses and dependent children). This is true even if the spouses and dependent children of active employees must be covered under the same plan as the employee.

Dependent qualified beneficiaries have their own rights (as qualified beneficiaries) with respect to open enrollment. Each qualified beneficiary has the right to make any selection that is made available based on the employee’s available plan options.

For example, assume Amanda is an employee of Company X, which maintains several separate group health plans (Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 3, and Plan 4). According to the governing plan documents, any family member for whom an active employee elects coverage must be covered under the same plan covering the active employee. Amanda, her spouse, and their two children are covered by Plan 1. At the time of Amanda’s termination of employment, she and her family members are each qualified beneficiaries. They are offered a COBRA election of continuation for Plan 1 (i.e., the coverage immediately in place at the time of the qualifying event). During their COBRA continuation coverage period, X has an open enrollment period during which active employees are offered an opportunity to change coverage or to add or eliminate dependents. During this open enrollment period, Amanda, her spouse, and their two children (all of whom are qualified beneficiaries) each have the independent right to switch to another group health plan. Amanda can elect to remain on Plan 1, her spouse on Plan 2, and their two children on Plans 3 and 4, respectively. (NB: If each family member chooses enrollment in COBRA coverage under separate plans, they can each be charged the “employee” or “individual” premium instead of one premium for the entire family unit.)

There are a few different options for updating plan and carrier information. If you use the Workbook Wizard on the client website, you can download a workbook with your plans and rates and upload it to HealthEquity | WageWorks. If you click on the Plans tab on your Employer site, there will be an option for the Workbook Wizard.

You can also send your plans and rates to the Client Services team who will prepare it for processing.