Clarifying Open Enrollment options for retirees
Open Enrollment for 2022 medical and dental benefits available to University of Minnesota retirees is November 1-30. To clarify the bewildering array of insurance options facing us, UMRA and the U’s Office of Human Resources (OHR) co-hosted our October 19 workshop. First, representatives from the international consulting firm Willis Towers Watson portrayed the current marketplace in Minnesota for Medicare-eligible seniors. Key points from their presentation were:
- Most Minnesota seniors get their health insurance in the individual market. Less than a third of larger Minnesota employers offer health insurance plans to their retirees.
- Of those that do, only a fraction subsidize the premiums; retirees usually pay the full cost of the plans.
- There are many companies offering Medicare supplement plans in Minnesota, ranging from regional non-profits like UCare to national, for-profit corporations like Aetna.
- Policies offered include both Medigap plans that supplement traditional Medicare and Advantage plans that take the place of Medicare.
- Premium costs vary from zero to several hundred dollars.
- The cost of plans purchased on the individual market is generally lower than for those offered by group plans from employers (such as those from the University). The reason: employer plans have a risk pool of thousands, while the individual marketplace has a risk pool of millions.
- Plan costs also vary because of differences in drug coverage, copays and coinsurance, breadth of coverage, the restrictiveness of physician networks, and other factors.
- More expensive, high-end plans offer more extensive drug coverage, lower copays, broader networks, and more coverage of things not covered by Medicare, including vision, dental, and travel benefits.
- Understanding all the options is a daunting task.
- Insurance brokers are generally well versed in the choices available and can help us think through our individual situations and find a policy that fits. They usually do not charge for their services; they get paid by whichever company you choose.
- If you don’t have a referral for a broker from someone you trust, a good place to start is the Senior LinkAge Line at 800-333-2433, a free, statewide service of the Minnesota Board on Aging in partnership with Minnesota’s area agencies on aging.
The workshop then turned to Ryan Reisdorfer and Katie Kolodge from OHR for a presentation of the University’s plans, beginning with a brief history of the U’s plans and what makes them distinctive.
- In the Board of Regents Policy on Employee Health Benefits, a guiding principle is that the University is committed to providing employees, retirees, and their families a health plan that offers choice and high quality, comprehensive, and cost-effective care.
- Of the more than 11,000 retirees currently with retirement funds managed by the U, only about 3,200 have health insurance plans from the University.
- The U has chosen to offer high- and medium-end plans. OHR is looking at the possibility of expanding coverage options in the future.
- One key difference between the high-end (Plan 1) plans and medium-end (Plan 2) plans is the extent of drug coverage.
- The U plans are tailored to some of the particular needs of retirees, like travel coverage.
- The U plans offer distinctive combinations of features that are unlikely to be found in plans on the individual market.
- The companies and the plans used by the U are thoroughly vetted.
- The U plans offer the possibility of simplifying your choices. This can be appealing if you start your retirement planning late or simply don’t want to face sorting through all the choices available.
- OHR offers pre-retirement counseling, and those preparing for retirement should seek counseling a few months before their retirement date.
- Each year during Open Enrollment, you can move from one U plan to another. However, if you leave you cannot later return to a U plan.
By November 1, you will receive the 2022 Benefit Enrollment Guide from OHR. It is also available online. The Guide includes tools that are intended to help you systematically assess the factors affecting your choice of plans. The cost of most of the U’s plans will go up for 2022, with increases varying from zero to seven percent.
Video presentations by the U’s plan vendors will be available at the Virtual Benefits Fair on the OHR website during Open Enrollment for University plans, November 1-30.
—Ron Matross, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
Making sense of healthcare insurance options
Tue, October 19 2021, 11am
Meeting to be held via Zoom.
Is your mailbox filling with ads for health insurance plans as Open Enrollment for 2022 approaches? How can some plans offer zero premiums? Where do the University’s plans fit among all the options that are available?
Please register to attend this Zoom webinar on October 19.
This year’s health insurance workshop will help you sort through the possibilities and make an informed choice of plans. The workshop will begin with a presentation by representatives from the international insurance broker and consulting firm Willis Towers Watson. Their presentation will talk about Medicare, the range of retiree health plans available in the Minnesota market, trends in senior plans, and what things you should consider when making a choice among them.
In the next part of the workshop, representatives of the University of Minnesota Office of Human Resources (OHR) will talk about why the University has the plans that it does, what sets them apart from other plans, and more information about how premiums are adjusted each year.
OHR will then offer an overview of next year’s retiree health plans, the 2022 Retiree Benefits Annual Enrollment Guide, and online information resources.
Following the presentations, you will have an opportunity to ask questions of the presenters. And following the Q and A, you can view recorded information sessions from each of this year’s University plan vendors.
The workshop will be a virtual presentation via Zoom webinar, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19. Please register and mark your calendars to attend this important workshop.
—Ron Matross, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
Upcoming Events
We will continue to discuss the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage. You will also hear about notable non-health plan and non-broker resources.
Jon Hallberg, MD, is the creative director of the U of M Medical School’s Center for the Art of Medicine and medical director of the M Physicians Mill City Clinic in Minneapolis. For UMRA’s September 17 Living Well Workshop he will talk about his lifelong effort to embody the art of medicine in all that he does.
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Our annual workshop on Open Enrollment for University retiree health insurance plans for the coming year will include information about changes in federal law impacting drug coverage in 2025. The presentation by Katie Kolodge will also include a preview of changes ahead for 2026, when the U will introduce a new “exchange program” offering a wider variety in premium and plan options to choose from and navigators to help guide your decision-making.
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The Kerlan is one of the world’s leading collections of rare books, manuscripts, and original art of children’s literature. It contains the work of more the 1,700 authors and illustrators from the 19th and 20th centuries to today, and it is the founding and largest collection within the University’s Children’s Literature and Research Collections.
Presented by Andy Whitman, PhD, Licensed Attorney, Tax Preparer & Volunteer Financial Planner at Prepare + Prosper.
Choose the moves that are right for you. Everyone's tax situation is different, consult with a tax professional to come up with a financial plan well before year end.