Enrollment Periods
- New Hire and Newly Eligible Employee Enrollment
- Qualifying Events for Enrollment Changes
- Annual Enrollment
- Still Have Questions?
New Hire and Newly Eligible Employee Enrollment
You will have 31 days from your hire date (or from the date you first moved into an eligible position) to complete your enrollment for medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Life/Accidental Death and Dismemberment and the Hyatt Legal Plans. Whether you enroll on day one, day 10 or day 31 of your enrollment period, your benefit coverage will begin on the first of the month following your hire/eligibility date. If your hire or eligibility date falls on the first day of the month, your coverage will begin on that date.
For example, if your hire date is Jan. 23, you have until Feb. 23 to complete enrollment. Even if you don’t enroll until Feb. 15, your benefit coverage would have a Feb. 1 effective date, and you would be responsible for your share of the February premiums. If your hire/eligibility date falls on the first day of the month, you would still have 31 days to enroll, but your coverage would be effective on your hire/eligibility date.
If you do not enroll at this time, you may enroll during Annual Enrollment or when you have a qualifying event. (See below)
Qualifying Events for Enrollment Changes
You can change your medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Life/Accidental Death and Dismemberment and the Hyatt Legal Plans benefit elections through the Service Center at Banner Plan Administration if you have a qualifying event (proof may be required).
Eligible qualifying events include:
- Dependent status – any event which causes your unmarried dependent to satisfy or cease to satisfy eligibility requirements due to age, student status, or similar circumstances under the plan under which you receive coverage.
- Employment status – any event in which employment begins or ends for you or for an eligible dependent; the gain or loss of eligibility due to a change in full-time to part-time status
or vice versa. - Legal marital status – any event that changes your legal marital status, including marriage, death of a spouse, divorce, legal separation or annulment.
- Medicare eligible status – you or your spouse/domestic partner become Medicare eligible.
- Number of dependents – any event that changes the number of your dependents, including birth, adoption, placement for adoption, divorce or death of a dependent.
- Residence or work site – any event where you or your eligible dependent transfer place of residence or work site that creates a change in your health plan coverage.
All changes due to a qualifying event must be made within 31 days of the event date and are effective the first day of the month following the event. If the event falls on the first day of the month, your changes will be effective on the event date. There are two exceptions to this rule:
- Newborns are effective on their date of birth
- Domestic partners become effective on the first of the month following their approval.
You will need to complete and submit the Benefits Change and Benefits Enrollment Form.
Annual Enrollment
An Annual Enrollment is held each fall. During this enrollment period, you may make new benefit elections or changes for the next calendar year to your medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Life/Accidental Death and Dismemberment and the Hyatt Legal Plans. Enrollment must be completed during the designated annual enrollment period.
As a current employee, you may add, drop or make changes to your benefits during Annual Enrollment. These choices will become effective Jan.1 of the following year. You will need to take action during Annual Enrollment if any of the following statements are true:
- You want to be in a different plan than you currently have
- You want to drop out of a plan you currently have
- You want to start covering a family member you don’t currently have covered
- You want to stop covering a family member you currently have covered
- You want a Health Care or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for the following year (you must re-enroll each year for FSAs)
Annual Enrollment information is provided each year through Banner Health publications and the Employee Website.
Important to Note
If you do not make any elections or changes during Annual Enrollment, your benefit election as of Dec. 31, will continue for the following year except for your Flexible Spending Accounts.
Still Have Questions?
If you still have questions, contact the Service Center at Banner Plan Administration at (480) 684-7070 in the Phoenix area or (800) 827-2464 in all other areas.
