2024 ANNUAL OPEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR OPTION CHANGES IN DENTAL INSURANCE PLAN COVERAGE & FLEXIBLE SPENDING HEALTH AND DEPENDENT CARE ACCOUNT ELECTIONS

NOTICE TO ALL ELIGIBLE NASSAU COUNTY EMPLOYEES

2024 ANNUAL OPEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR OPTION CHANGES IN DENTAL INSURANCE PLAN COVERAGE &

FLEXIBLE SPENDING HEALTH AND DEPENDENT CARE ACCOUNT ELECTIONS

** ALL OPTION CHANGES AND ELECTIONS WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE

JANUARY 1, 2024**

The period from October 23 to November 11, 2023, has been designated as the Annual Dental Insurance and Flexible Spending Health and Dependent Care Open Enrollment period during which employees who desire to change their dental plan option or enroll in a 2024 Flexible Spending Account (FSA) may do so.

**All Forms and Booklets attached below**

DENTAL INSURANCE OPTION CHANGE:

Employees desiring to make an option change to or from the Reimbursement/Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) or Comprehensive (Managed Care) plans must complete a new dental application form and submit it to their department’s human resource representative during the open enrollment period. The dental application form may be obtained from your human resource representative. **PLEASE NOTE: If you are changing from the Comprehensive plan to the Reimbursement plan, please verify with Healthplex that the change has been processed BEFORE you are treated by the new dentist**. You may call Healthplex at 1(800) 468-0600. You may also log onto the Healthplex website at www.healthplex.com and sign-up to become a User. Becoming a User will allow you to view your account information, check eligibility of your dependents, find a dentist, request duplicate ID cards and access My Smile Guide.

Buy-Up Plan Option: Active employees enrolled in the Reimbursement/Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) option can purchase additional coverage through the Buy-Up Plan Option. Enrollment and disenrollment into the Buy-up Plan Option can only be done during open enrollment. Employees must keep the plan for the entire year. This option gives additional coverage at a cost of $37.25 monthly. Details of the additional coverage are listed on page 10 of the attached dental brochure.
Only active employees are eligible for this additional coverage. Terminated employees who were previously enrolled can continue their existing coverage as part of their COBRA benefit.
Employees who are on unpaid Family and Medical Leave (FML) who are not required to pay for their health benefits will have to pay any Buy-Up Plan premiums in arrears upon return to payroll.
Employees who are on unpaid FML or Leave Without Pay (LWOP) who are required to pay for their health benefits must also pay the Buy-Up premium. If employees choose to allow their dental coverage to terminate for non-payment, the Buy-Up option will also terminate and not be available upon return to payroll. Because this is an annual plan there cannot be any breaks in coverage.
If the Buy-Up option is terminated due to non-payment prior to year-end, any unused benefits will be forfeited. Employees will have to wait for open enrollment to re-enroll.

REMINDER:

Effective January 1, 2022, the number of preventative visits allowed annually was increased from two to four. An electronic copy of the complete benefits is attached and located on the Comptroller Health Benefits website. This benefit is not available to those enrolled in the Buy-up Plan.

Flexible Spending Account FSA

The Flex Benefits Plan (Flexible Spending Account & Dependent Care-FSA) is administered by Aetna, Inc. and can result in true pre-tax dollar savings for you and your family! Here’s how it works:

The County’s Flexible Benefits Plan enables you to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for many out-of-pocket health care and dependent care related expenses not covered by your insurance provider. By determining what your annual expenses for these items will be, and having pre-tax dollars deducted from your paycheck, you will realize significant savings for the calendar year.

The projected maximum contribution for the plan in 2024 is $3,200 for Health Care and $5,000 for Dependent Care if filing joint federal income tax return and $2,500 for Dependent Care if married and filing separate federal income tax returns. (Note: For a child to qualify for Dependent Care, he/she would have to be a tax dependent of yours who is under age 13 when the dependent care services are rendered.)

The minimum contribution is $500 combined for both plans. (For example: $100 for Health Care and $400 for Dependent Care.)

Nassau County will be participating in the Grace Period Option as it relates to unused funds in your FSA health account. This means that you will have until March 15, 2025 to incur qualified expenses that can be reimbursed from any unused contributions made in 2024; and until March 31, 2025 to submit your claims.

Please be reminded that any unused amount remaining in your 2023 Health Care FSA as of March 15, 2024, or as of the date your employment terminates, will be forfeited. Therefore, please carefully consider the amounts you would like to contribute to your 2024 FSA accounts and complete the attached application form. You should submit the completed form to your HR representative no later than November 11, 2023.

If this is your first-year enrolling in HealthCare FSA, please note that at the top of your form so that we can expedite processing of your Flex card.

Representatives from Payflex/Aetna will be on-site on the following days between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to answer questions you may have: