Open Enrollment

If you are currently enrolled in one of the College's medical plans but are considering changing plans or enrolling in medical coverage through the College for the first time, we hope you will find Cigna's customer service features and enrollment tools useful in selecting the medical plan option that best meets your needs and the needs of your family. Once enrolled, Cigna's customer service support model "One Guide" provides live service representatives 24/7 to help you engage in your health and get the most value from your plan. Reminder: If you are currently enrolled in a Cigna medical plan you will not receive a new medical plan ID card for 2023 and should continue to use your current ID card from Cigna in late December.

The following enrollment resources are available to you, and we urge you to begin to review the information and take advantage of them so that you are ready to enroll when the November 7th enrollment window opens in Workday.

• Cigna's One Guide - If you are currently enrolled in a Cigna medical plan through the College, you can call Cigna's One Guide customer service team 24/7 at (800) 244-6224. Remember when calling it is important to follow the prompts and enter your CIGNA ID number in order to be correctly routed to One Guide. We also urge you to register at mycigna.com.

• Cigna's Pre-Enrollment Line - If you are currently enrolled in a Cigna medical plan through the College, you can call 2/47 at (888) 806-5042. Cigna's team of representatives can help you better understand the medical plan options, answer questions, confirm in-network providers and more.
  
  
• Cigna's Easy Choice Select a Plan Tool - Cigna's easy choice tool is available at https://decisionsupport.cigna.com. The College's employee medical plan contributions are tiered in 4 annual salary bands. The access codes to use the Cigna tool are as follow: annual salary of $43,000 and under QAKGTAT7, annual salary of $43,001-$85,000 WAVGATLA, annual salary of $85,001-$140,000 9CPTCNLH and annual salary of $140,001 and over WC4HPJTW.
  
  
• Cigna's online directory - Go to cigna.com and click on "Find a Doctor" at the top of the screen. Under "How are you Covered?" select "Employer or School." When prompted to select a network use: Open Access Plus, OA Plus, Choice Funds OA Plus. You can use any in-network healthcare provider, medical facility, or pharmacy in Maine and across the United States with no referrals required by the plans. We urge you to establish a relationship with a primary care provider as a valuable resrource to help guide your care.

Cigna will continue to be the College's health plan provider in calendar year 2023. There will be a small increase to the employee contributions with no changes to deductibles or out-of-pocket maximum, with the exception of the Cigna Open Access Plus HDHP#2 plan. For this plan, due to Federal regulartions for HDHP plans, the individual deductible must incease from $2,800 to $3,000. The College will increase the employer Health Savings Accounts contribution for individual coverage from $1,400 to $1,500 to adjust for this increase.

Reminder: If you are currently enrolled in a Cigna medical plan you will not received a new medical plan ID card for 2023 and should continue to use your current ID card. Only those making a change to a different medical plan or newly enrolled will receive a 2023 ID card from Cigna in late December.

• 2023 Bowdoin College Health Plan Comparison Chart with Rates
• 2023 High Deductible Health Plan & HSA Frequently Asked Questions
• Cigna Open Access Plus Health Plan
• Cigna Open Access Plus Health Plan Federal Summary Benefit Chart
• Cigna Open Acess Plus HDHP Option #1
• Cigna Open Access HDHP Option #1 Federal Summary Benefit Chart
• Cigna Open Acess Plus HDHP Option #2
• Cigna Open Access Plus HDHP Option #2 Federal Summary Benefit Chart

• 2023 High Deductible Health Plan & Health Savings Account Frequently Asked Questions

If you enroll in one of the HSA eligible High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) options, the College will provide you with an employer HSA contribution. the College's HSA accounts are administered by Fidelity.

• HDHP Option #1 - $750 for self-only coverage/$1,500 per family
• HDHP Option #2 - $1,500 for self-only coverage/$2,600 per family

The employer contribution is made upfront in the first pay period in January. We urge you to also consider making your own contributions to your HSA. Contributions are made on a pre-tax basis and the unused funds in the account roll over from year to yearand are yours even if you were to leave employment with the College. The 2023 maximum HSA contribution limit is $3,850 for self-only coverage and $7,750 for a family. Remember that you must include the College’s employer contribution in these limits when considering how much you would like to contribute.

If you are a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) participant making your own contributions to your HSA in 2022, remember that these contributions will stop automatically with the last pay date in 2022. If you would like to continue to contribute uninterrupted into 2022, you must make an election during Open Enrollment. You can also make an election to contribute to your HSA or make changes any time in calendar year 2023.

Important: If you are new to the HDHP coverage, you will receive an email with additonal information and a link to set up your new Fidelity HSA after Open Enrollment ends.

The College's medical and dependent care FSAs will continue to be administered by GroupDynamic Inc. 

Medical and dependent care FSAs allow you to set aside your own money on a pre-tax basis to pay for certain eligible medical or daycare expenses. You must make an active election during Open Enrollment if you wish to contribute to a FSA in calendar year 2023. The expenses that you intend to use the FSA funds for must be incurred during the plan year between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023.

• A medical FSA can be used for eligible medical expenses that are not covered by insurance like office visits and prescription drug copays/coinsurance, dental copays/coinsurance, and vision care.  The maximum calendar year election for a medical FSA in 2023 is $3,050.
  
  For plan year 2023, up to $610 of any unclaimed medical FSA balance is allowed to rollover into the next calendar year (into 2024). Any amount of your uncliamed medical FSA blance more than the $610 rollover is forfeited. For this reason, it's important to plan carefully.
  
  Please Note: If you are enrolled in one of the Health Savings Account (HSA) eligible High Deductible Health Plan options for your medical coverage you are eligible to make contributions (up to the annual limit of $3,050) to a "Limited Use" healthcare flexible spending account only. A "Limited Use" FSA can only be used for eligible dental and vision expenses.
  
  
• A dependent care FSA allows you to set aside your own money on a pre-tax basis to pay for eligible daycare expenses so that you (and your spouse if you are married) can work. The dependent must be under age 13 or incapable of self-care and must be claimed as a dependent on your tax return. The maximum calendar year election per household filing single or married filing jointly is $5,000. 

The College’s dental plan remains with Northeast Delta Dental. Dental benefits cover your oral health needs including 100% coverage for preventive cleanings – you could also be eligible for additional preventive benefits through Delta Dental’s Health through Oral Wellness (HOW) Program. Procedures such as fillings, routine extractions, periodontics, and endodontics are covered at 80% after the deductible ($50 per individual/$150 per family).  Procedures such as crowns and implants are covered at 50% after the deductible. The calendar year maximum coverage amount is $2,000 per person.  

Dental plan contributions will increase slightly by $1.00 for each tier of coverage (except for the employee-only tier of coverage, which will not change).

Delta Dental Coverage Chart 

The College provides basic life insurance at no cost to all benefit-eligible employees in the amount of 2X's your annual salary rounded up to the next thousand. All eligible employees are automatically enrolled. The minimum amount of coverage is $50,000 and the maximum is $850,000.

In addition, an employee can opt to elect supplemental life insurance for themselves in amounts of 1X’s to 4X’s your annual salary to a maximum amount of $350,000. There are also options for a spouse in increments of $10,000, $25,000 or $50,000 and a child(ren) up to age 26 in increments of $5,000 or $10,000. An employee pays 100% of the supplemental life insurance they elect. The contribution rates for supplemental employee life insurance increase with age and are based on your age as of each January 1^st. Spouse and child(ren) coverage are flat rates. The per pay period costs specific to each option and your age will be displayed in Workday during the enrollment process. It is important to remember that you can only make a change to these elections during open enrollment each year. You have the option to move up one increment, drop down to a lower level or cancel/waive coverage.

Be sure to update your beneficiary information for your basic and supplemental life elections during the open enrollment process!

Remember: The value of the College provided basic life insurance and any employee supplemental life insurance you elect reduces to 65% at age 65, 45% at age 70 and to a flat $5,000 at age 75 based on your age as of each January 1^st. Both the basic and supplemental life options are term life insurance and end when employment ends.

The College provides group travel/accident life insurance coverage at no cost to all benefit-eligible employees. Should the death of the employee occur while the employee is on official Bowdoin College business travel, the policy will pay the named beneficiary(ies) the policy amount of $300,000 subject to the policy agreement and exclusions. 

Be sure to review and update your beneficiary information during the open enrollment process.

All eligible employees are automatically enrolled in both STD and LTD. The College pays 100% of the cost of both plans. To be eligible an employee must have a regular work schedule of 30 or more hours per week (including academic year employees). All benefits-eligible faculty are eligible and automatically enrolled.

STD benefits provide important income replacement while you are on a medical leave of absence for up to 6 months. After 6 months of STD, an employee is eligible to apply for and receive LTD benefits which provide 60% of your pre-disability earnings non-taxable.

Allowed Amount

Maximum amount on which payment is based for covered health care services.  This may also be called “eligible expense” or “negotiated rate.”  If an out-of-network provider charges more than the allowed amount, you may have to pay the difference (see Balance Billing).

Balance Billing

When a provider bills you for the difference between the provider’s charge and the allowed amount.  For example, if the provider’s charge is $100 and the allowed amount is $70, the provider may bill you for the remaining $30.  An in-network provider may not bill balance bill you for covered services.  Only out-of-network providers will balance bill you.

Co-insurance

Your share of the costs of a covered health care service, calculated as a percent (for example 20%) of the allowed amount for the service.  You pay co-insurance plus any deductibles.  For example, if the plan’s allowed amount for a covered service is $100 and you’ve met your deductible, your co-insurance payment of 20% would be $20.  The health insurance or plan pays the rest of the allowed amount.

Co-payment

A fixed amount (for example $20) you pay for a covered health care service, usually when you receive the service.  The amount can vary depending on the type of service.

Deductible

The amount you owe for covered health care services before the health plan begins to pay.  For example, if your deductible is $1,500, your plan won’t pay anything until you’ve met your $1,500 deductible for services that are subject to the deductible.  The deductible may not apply to all services.

Emergency Medical Condition

An illness, injury, symptom or condition so serious that a reasonable person would seek care right away to avoid severe harm.

Emergency Room Care

Emergency services you receive in a hospital emergency room.

Excluded Services

Health care services that your health plan doesn’t pay for or cover.

Hospitalization

Care in a hospital that requires admission as an inpatient and usually requires an overnight stay.  An overnight stay for observation could be considered outpatient care.

Medically Necessary

Health care services or supplies needed to prevent, diagnose or treat an illness, injury, condition, disease or its symptoms and that meet accepted standards of medicine.

Network

The facilities, providers and suppliers that your health insurer or plan has contracted with to provide health care services.

Out-of-Network Provider

The facilities, providers and suppliers who do not have a contract with your health insurer or plan.  You’ll pay more for out-of-network services.

Out-of-Pocket Limit

The most you pay during a plan year (a calendar year) before your health plan begins to pay 100% of the allowed amount.  This limit never includes contributions you pay to enroll in coverage, balance-billed charges or health care your plan doesn’t cover.

Preauthorization

A decision by your health plan that a service, treatment plan, prescription drug or durable medical equipment is medically necessary.  Sometimes called prior authorization.  Your health plan may require preauthorization for certain services before you receive them, except in an emergency.

Prescription Drugs

Drugs and medications that by law require a prescription.

Primary Care Provider

A physician (M.D. – Medical Doctor or D.O. – Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist or physician assistant, as allowed under state law, who provides, coordinates, or helps a patient access a range of health care services.

Provider

A physician, health care professional or health care facilities licensed, certified or accredited as required by state law.

Specialist

A physician specialist who has more training in a specific area of health care and focuses on a specific area of medicine or a group of patients to diagnosis, manage, prevent or treat certain types of symptoms and conditions.

Urgent Care

Care for an illness, injury or condition serious enough that a reasonable person would seek care right away, but not so severe as to require emergency room care.