Open Enrollment Offers Same Health Insurance Options With No Rise in Employee Costs
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 14, 2020) — Open enrollment is the one time a year when all University of Kentucky employees can completely customize their benefits package — only if they want to make changes to health insurance and more.
University of Kentucky’s benefits open enrollment period continues through May 15. The benefits decisions you make during this time will be in effect from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
To help inform your decisions, HR shares benefits news for the year ahead during this period. These are the highlights:
- No rise in your monthly insurance costs.
- $0 medical telehealth co-pays for all UK health insurance members on any plan.
- Universal life insurance is guaranteed regardless of health conditions.
- New financial well-being benefits for college savings and loan forgiveness.
The biggest news this year is no news: all health, dental and vision insurance plan designs and the monthly costs to employees, called premiums, remain the same. This follows several years of plan additions, upgrades and slight increases to employee costs.
“With the same insurance options to choose from, this is a good time to consider whether you found the right fit for you and your family,” said HR Manager of Benefits Gail Carbol.
UK’s five health insurance plans differ based on how and when you pay and where you can receive care. To help employees explore their best fit, HR provides an online tool called ALEX.
According to national data from the makers of ALEX, the average cost difference between an employee’s most cost-effective plan and second most-cost-effective plan was $642 during the year 2018.
Learn more about open enrollment decisions and employee benefits on the HR website.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.