Change in Spouse Employment

Applies to:
All benefit eligible employees whose spouse gains or loses employment.

Answer:
A change in a husband or wife’s employment allows an employee to make appropriate changes to his or her benefits. An employee may remove the spouse from any benefits that the spouse now receives through his or her new employment, or the employee may add the spouse to his or her benefits if the spouse is losing coverage. If the spouse’s employment change affects dependent children (if children were or will be covered under the spouse’s plan) the employee may add or remove the children from his or her benefits. The effective date of the change will be the first of the month following the change in employment.

Change Instructions:
Changes must be initiated within 30 days of the spouse’s change in employment, but preferably as soon as possible. If the change increases your insurance premiums, catch-up deductions may apply. All forms may be found online at: www.UNCHCSBenefits.com.

Changes to the Health Insurance:

• Employees can make the State Health Plan Changes online to add or remove their spouse and/or children from their policy. The words “Change in Spouse Employment” and the Date the change occurred must be noted.
• If the employee is not currently enrolled in the State Health Plan, he or she may enroll by completing the State Health Plan Enrollment online.
• If the employee is adding dependents to his or her coverage or enrolling for the first time, he or she should also submit the State Health Plan Prior/Other Coverage Information online.
• Please visit the Employee Benefits Web site for current rate information and bear in mind that Health Insurance premiums are collected one month in advance. Catch-up deductions may apply.

Once completed, employees should print a Benefit Detail report for their records.

Changes to NCFlex Benefit Elections (Vision, Dental, etc):
All changes must be made online; UNC Health Care does not process paper change forms for NCFlex benefits. Employees may log into their NCFlex account online at www.NCFlexOnline.org.

To initiate changes online, employees should:
1) log into their NCFlex account,
2) click on My Account (top right corner),
3) select Add Life Status Change Event (on the left),
4) select the appropriate event from the drop down menu
5) follow the instructions displayed to complete the transaction
6) make the appropriate changes to your benefit elections

This transaction will open the Web site for benefit changes for 30 days from the date of the life event. Employees may call 1-888-860-6118 for assistance with the Web site.

Changes to MetLife Life Insurance:
Employees may complete a revised MetLife Life Insurance Enrollment Application to add or remove dependents from their MetLife Life Insurance policy.

Once completed, employees should keep a copy for their records and forward all originals to:
UNC HC Employee Benefits, 211 Friday Center Drive, Suite 2057, Chapel Hill, NC, 27517.

Example
Ben’s wife is employed with company XYZ, but her position is being terminated as of June 17. Ben is able to add her to his Health, Dental and/or Vision Insurance effective July 1.

Ben will complete and submit the State Health Plan Changes online to add her to the Health Insurance, making sure to click “Edit due to Life Change”. Then Ben will log into his online NCFlex account to add her to his Dental and Vision coverage.

Ben will have until July 16 to initiate the changes, but will submit them as quickly as he can to avoid delays and large premium adjustments. If Ben’s wife finds a new job, Ben will take the same actions to remove her from his policies.