An Important Message for NC Health Benefit Representatives

January 2019

Winter/Spring HBR Training Registration Reminder Earlier this month we announced upcoming NCFlex training and sent out links to register. If you missed the announcement or still haven't registered and would like to, check out our HBR Special Alert January 2019 .

Voya's EOI Process - News and Reminder Employees who made changes during Open Enrollment to their Term Life benefit that required an EOI have either received or will be receiving their EOI form to complete. Most EOI forms were mailed in December and due in January. However, a subset of employees for which an EOI was required, mistakenly did not receive an EOI initially, but instead, first received a follow-up notice before receiving an EOI. This issue has been resolved and these employees have been issued a proper EOI form with a due date in February along with explanation from Voya. As a reminder, the effective date for employees whose election required EOI is dependent on the EOI approval date. Once this approval occurs, Benefitfocus updates their system. Payroll should then be updated to reflect the new premium amount. The workflow is being updated to generate a task once the amount is updated. Best practice is to check these tasks on a weekly basis. Health Care Flexible Spending Account - Term Date Beginning in December, an enhancement was made that changes the term date for the HCFSA to the last day of the month. Prior to the enhancement, the HCFSA termed on the employee's last day of employment. This is good news for HBRs since you no longer need to reach out to P&A to make this change. Recent updated functionality in the Benefitfocus reports to P&A has eliminated the need for HBRs to reach out to P&A and make this request. Now an employee's HCFSA will automatically end like other NCFlex benefits - at the end of the month in which an employee separates or the last deduction is taken.

Remind Employees to Check Benefits January paystubs for your employees will show the first NCFlex deductions for the 2019 plan year. Remind employees to check their paystubs for accuracy. If they feel there was an error made during Open Enrollment, they should contact you, their HBR, to see if an exception request is warranted. As HBRs, it is your decision whether or not to submit exceptions on an employee's behalf. Whether you agree with the employee or not, always include all details you feel are relevant to the exception request for NCFlex's consideration. To submit an exception, complete the exception form on the NCFlex HBR Webpage . Include all pertinent details to help us process your exception as quickly and accurately as possible. Please note, new hires that elected benefits during your group's mapping period prior to Open Enrollment (each group should have this schedule - all mapping ended mid-September) should check their benefits to ensure mapping occurred correctly for NCFlex coverage. If your employee and/or you feel there was an error due to incorrect mapping, please note this in the exception. NCFlex will accept Open Enrollment exception requests through March 15. Dependent Day Care exceptions will still be considered after this date if an employee enrolled in the DDCFSA in error.

Allstate Critical Illness Rates As you know, Allstate Critical Illness rates have decreased for the 2019 plan year. Due to some technicalities on Allstate's side, two age bands in the $25k category do not match their system by $.01 - $.02. These age bands are 45-49 and 80+. This technicality will not change our rates that are listed in our guide. It will however reflect on the invoice from Allstate that payroll offices receive. This notice is only to serve as informational. Allstate only expects to receive the agreed upon premium, which again, is listed in our guide. HBR Vendor Contacts The NCFlex HBR Administration Manual can be found on the HBR portion of our website. Currently it is being revised for 2019, however, the vendor contacts are updated throughout the year. Recently the contact for LifeHelp (customer service for Voya) and Selman & Company have changed. Please refer to the Admin Manual (page 10) for the most up-to-date contact for each vendor. As a reminder, these contacts are meant for HBRs only and should not be shared with employees. We have had reports of employees calling these contacts with questions that should be directed to the main customer service number for each product. We appreciate your cooperation.

Employee 1099 Forms for Critical Illness and Accident Employees who received a benefit from the Critical Illness or Accident Plan in 2018 above $600, should expect to receive a Form 1099 for tax purposes. Employees should consult a tax adviser about whether the benefit in whole or part is taxable.

2019 NCFlex Benefits Guide and 2019 Benefits Summary In December NCFlex announced we would soon be releasing the 2019 expanded guide and attached a link for orders . We currently have several orders which will be mailed once the guides have been printed. For now, you can find an electronic version of this guide on the HBR section of our website. Please note that this version is called a Benefits Guide where as the shorter version is called an Enrollment Guide. Also, you can still order the 2019 Enrollment Guides (shorter version) from the HBR section of our website. Our 2019 Employee Benefits Summary is still under construction, however, you can access an electronic version with updated rates for 2019 on the Benefits Summary section of our website. The look of the Benefits Summary will be updated in the near future and once that is complete we will have copies printed for HBRs to order. We will notify HBRs once these are available.

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