Take advantage of the additional ‘Wellness Benefit’ from Voya

As part of your Critical Illness Insurance, you can qualify for a “Wellness Benefit.” Voya will provide an annual benefit of $50 per calendar year for taking one of the eligible health screening/prevention measures. Voya will pay only one health screening benefit per covered person per calendar year. For example, annual physical exam, mammogram, colonoscopy, pap test, prostate exam, hemoglobin A1C, blood panel, etc. Information on eligible health screenings and how to file a claim can be found on the here.

Don’t forget, if you are participating in the 2021 Healthy Boiler Program to earn the wellness incenctive and have already had your annual physical (and biometrics screening if desired) completed, you have already had a qualifying screening/prevention measure taken. If not, you can plan to earn both the Healthy Boiler incentive -- complete your annual physical (and biometrics screening if desired) by December 31, 2021 -- and the Critical Illness Insurance Health Screening Benefit in 2021.

Note: Employees who had MetLife Critical Illness in 2020, can still file claims for services in 2020 as long as they are within 1 year from date of service to receive the Health Screening Benefit from MetLife. See page 21 in the MetLIfe Critical Illness certificate booklet for a complete list of eligible screening/prevention measures. For instruction on how to submit a claim, see the “MetLife Critical Illness claim process” handout. To file a claim, visit www.mybenefits.metlife.com or call 866-626-3705. 

Questions can be directed to Human Resources at hr@purdue.edu, HRHelp (secure email) or by phone at 765-494-2222 or toll-free at 877-725-0222.

Purdue’s Mental Health Action Week (MHAW) set for March 1 – 5

Purdue Student Government, in partnership with several other University student groups, Purdue Graduate Student Government, administration and human resources, will once again host a week-long event focused on mental health. The event aligns with the Healthy Boiler Program in support of its behavioral health pillar. Look for more information to be shared closer to the event. 

Support provided for expecting parents, breastfeeding mothers

As a reminder, the university provides multiple resources to assist our expecting parents as well as breastfeeding mothers after they have returned to work. Take a look at the benefits available:

• Paid Parental Leave (PPL) is provided as part of an employee’s benefits package
  • PPL provides parents additional flexibility and time to bond with their new child, adjust to new family situations and balance professional obligations.
  • Eligible employees receive up to 240 hours (6 weeks) if employed by the University for at least one continuous year, half-time or more, in a benefits-eligible position. If both parents are employed by the University, each parent may receive up to 240 hours of paid parental leave.
    
    
• Future Moms, a wellness program offered via Blue Cross Blue Shield, is a program that can answer questions, help expecting parents make good choices and follow their healthcare provider’s plan of care. The program provides helpful resources and tools throughout pregnancy and delivery, including:
  • A toll-free number so women can talk to a nurse coach 24/7 about their pregnancy. A nurse also may call them from time to time to see how they’re doing.
  • The “Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy” book, which shows changes to expect for mom and baby during the next nine months.
  • A screening to check health risk for depression or early delivery.
    
    The Future Moms program is available at no cost to benefits-eligible faculty and staff covered on a Purdue health plan as well as spouses and dependents ages 18 through 25 covered on a Purdue health plan. View a video about the program. Once pregnancy is confirmed, individuals can call Anthem toll-free at 800-828-5891 and a registered nurse will get you started.

• To help mothers be successful in their transition back to work after having a child, the Lactation Support Program includes the locations of all campus lactation spaces and a mother's information packet. Additional resources available include how to obtain lactation consulting through University medical plans, as well as local and national resources for additional support.
  
  All Purdue University faculty and staff health plans cover breast pumps and supplies under the Women’s Health Provision at 100 percent, not subject to deductible. This benefit is limited to the purchase or rental of one breast pump per year as ordered or prescribed by a physician. Rental is also allowed up to the purchase price and includes related supplies. Information is available on the “Lactation Resources” web page on the Family Friendly website.
  
  Register for the Lactation Support Program to get started.

New employee benefit: Long-Term Care Insurance through Mutual of Omaha

A new voluntary benefit – Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) – is coming soon. LTCI is designed to help protect your retirement portfolio, ease the burden of caregiving by your loved ones and allow you to choose the setting in which you receive care. LTCI isn’t just for the elderly – an accident or prolonged illness could require the need for long-term care at any age.

Look for emails from “purdue@ltcipartners.com” with more information. It is safe to open these emails and any links provided within them. All email replies will go to a licensed LTCI enrollment counselor.

A one-time open enrollment opportunity will take place from February 16 through March 12, 2021.

Claims Filing Deadline for 2020 FSA, LPFSA, DCFSA Accounts

Employees have until March 31, 2021, to file claims for reimbursement of 2020 eligible expenses from their 2020 health care Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Limited Purpose Flexible Spending Account (LPFSA), Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) or wellness Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA).

Unused funds remaining in the 2020 wellness HRAs will be forfeited. The remaining accounts will have relief from changes implemented following the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA).

Following the relief options laid out in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), Purdue has decided to adopt some changes for those participating in a 2021 FSA, LPFSA and/or a DCFSA. Purdue is also allowing account-specific changes for those who participated in one of the above named accounts in 2020.

More details are available in the recent Purdue Today article.

Submit tobacco-cessation waiver by March 31 to waive additional premium for entire 2021 plan year

As a reminder, employees (and their spouse, if covered) who certify as tobacco users (a person who has used tobacco, including cigars, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco or any other tobacco product in the past 12 months) during open enrollment each year will pay an additional $1,000 tobacco-user premium on their medical benefits. Full or partial premium waivers can be obtained by competing an approved tobacco cessation program.

Completed program certificates from an approved tobacco cessation program submitted by March 31 will waive the tobacco-user additional premium for the entire 2021 plan year. If the form is submitted after March 31, the premium will be waived for the remainder of the 2021 plan year.

For more information about the additional premium, visit the Purdue Medical Plan Tobacco-User Additional Premium: Questions and Answers web page.

Use the “How Much Will You Save?” calculator provided by smokefree.gov to see personalized cost savings results based only on the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Behavioral health resources available

Behavioral health – one of the five pillars of the Healthy Boiler Program – plays a key role in overall employee well-being. In an effort to help Purdue employees manage stress, anxiety and more, see the recent email sent from Human Resources. Additionally, the Mental Health Resources web page offers a variety of available resources.

Upcoming Healthy Boiler workshops

Diabetes, success, oxygen, nutrition and more are the topics for the Healthy Boiler workshops being offered in the coming months. Healthy Boiler workshops are free to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff and dependents covered on a Purdue medical plan. Registration for all workshops can be done via the Healthy Boiler Portal. Registration link can be found under the “Engage” tab, “Wellness Events” on the portal’s home page. All registrations are due by the day before the event’s start date unless otherwise specified. See the full list of workshops on the “Healthy Boiler Workshops” web page.

Three-day, virtual Road to Retirement event takes place March 10-12 – Registration is not required

Save the date: Road to Retirement -- a 3-day virtual event packed with information designed to help you plan for retirement, regardless of where you are on your retirement path – takes place March 10-12.  program designed to assist employees in preparing for life after retirement -- is held twice a year for

For more information, including recorded presentations of some of the fall 2020 event sessions – visit the Benefit’s web page, “Ready for Retirement? Let us help you plan!”

Winter walking tips – Avoid slip and fall injuries

When snow and ice are present, Radiological and Environmental Management (REM) advise employees to take extra precautions as they walk around campus – and elsewhere. To avoid slips and falls, REM offers a tip sheet with information, including a 2-minute video demonstrating winter weather walking techniques. See REM’s “Winter Walking Tips” sheet to access the information.

Mark your calendars! Mammography event scheduled for summer

The University continues its work to increase the mammogram rate for the Purdue community, and is once again partnering with Franciscan Health Lafayette Breast Center to provide convenient access to preventive (nondiagnostic) mammogram screenings. The 2021 event is tentatively scheduled for June. More information will be shared once details are finalized.

Important reasons to review SSN information in Benefitfocus

For several reasons, employees are asked to review their social security number (SSN) along with those of their dependents in Benefitfocus and make any corrections that are needed.

• If your SSN is incorrect, your social security tax payments won’t get credited to you.
• The Affordable Care Act (aka Health Care Reform) requires employers to send dependent social security numbers (SSN) for those covered on a Purdue medical plan to the IRS, along with the dependent’s medical plan election. If your dependent does not have an SSN to enter, you may disregard this message.
• In order to get reimbursed from your health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) for eligible expenses incurred by your dependents, HSA Bank must have a valid SSN on file.
• For dependents to utilize Rx Savings Solutions, they must have their SSN on file.

To access Benefitfocus, use the OneCampus Portal. Find the “Benefit Enrollment – Active link” and click it to log into Benefitfocus.

Once logged into Benefitfocus, click the gold button “To Enroll, Make a Change, and View Your Benefits CLICK HERE.”  In the menu on the left, click Dependents.  Under Actions, click Edit next to your dependent’s name. Review the SSN for that dependent for accuracy. If you need to make a change, click Show and Edit just beneath the number to enter a new number, then click the black Save box at the bottom of the page.  If no change is needed, click Cancel at the bottom of the page. Please be sure to do this for any dependents (spouse and children) whom you covered at any time to date in 2020.

For more information, please contact Human Resources at 765-494-2222, toll-free at 877-725-0222 or via email at hr@purdue.edu.

If your SSN is incorrect, your Social Security tax payments won't get credited to you, If you want to get reimbursed from your HRA for eligible expenses incurred by your dependents, HSA Bank must have a valid SSN on file.