Laredo C.A.R.E.S. - United Independent School District

Employee
Benefits Corner
BENEFITS UPDATE
The Employee Benefits Committee (EBC) is pleased to announce
the contract renewals beginning September 1, 2012 for the following
benefits:
• Disability: Renewal with UNUM for three years at total cost
savings of 45%
• Vision: Renewal with Eyetopia with a rate guarantee for five
years. Three tier selection for employees to choose from on Basic
and Gold Plan. Upgrade to Gold Plan. Rates are as follow:
Basic Plan Gold Plan
Emp Only $ 7.50 $ 18.00
Emp + One $ 14.00 $ 36.00
Emp + Family $ 22.00 $ 50.00
• Supplemental Life: Awarded to Sun-Life Insurance Company with
a rate guarantee for five years at a total cost savings of 26%. All
TRS eligible employees will be able to take advantage of enrolling
for supplemental life with no questions asked up to the guaranteed
issue amount of $350,000 or 7x annual salary, whichever is lesser,
during open enrollment.
Congratulations to the EBC for their hard work and dedication in
looking out for the best interest in our employee benefits program!
BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION
Your life insurance beneficiary designation serves a very important
purpose by making sure your benefits are distributed as you intended.
Without a validly named beneficiary, the money in your life insurance
policy will generally be paid to your estate, which means your family
will most likely have to endure the complexity, expenses and costs
associated with probate.
With regards to TRS, it is important for you to have a current
beneficiary designation on file with TRS. You may print a copy of
Designation of Beneficiary form (TRS 11) from the TRS website www.
trs.state.tx.us
Reviewing your beneficiary choices to ensure they are current is a
necessary step that can help you avoid unwanted outcomes or probate.
Always consider changes in marital status, deaths or other life changes
that may impact your beneficiary designation decision, and update
accordingly..
Please note: A divorce does not automatically revoke your former
spouse as beneficiary, nor the death of a beneficiary.
To update your beneficiaries, please stop by the Risk Management
Department, Portable #6, at 201 Lindenwood. Please have your
beneficiary(ies) information such as Name, date of birth, Social Security
number and address on hand when you stop by.
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Your Source for information and current events in United ISD
HOT WEATHER DEMANDS CAUTION IN THE CAR
A tragedy can result from leaving a child in the car for even a few
minutes during the summer – even with the windows partly open. A
parent may be reluctant to wake a sleeping child or forgets that a child
is in the car. Many deaths happen because people just don’t know
how quickly a car heats up inside. In 90-degree heat, it only takes
10 minutes for a car interior to reach the level of an “excessive heat
advisory” on the National Weather Service scale.
Parents and caregivers should take precautions, such as creating
reminders so that they don’t become distracted and leave the car
without the child and by locking cars and trucks. About 30 percent of
recorded heat stroke deaths happened when a child was playing in an
unattended vehicle.
Source: National Safety Council
ULTRAVIOLET PROTECTION – MORE THAN
JUST SLATHERING ON SUNSCREEN
National UV Safety Month is a good time to remember that there is no
such thing as a healthy suntan. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the main
cause of skin cancer – the most widely found type of cancer in the
United States. Anyone can get skin cancer, but the risk is greatest for
people with white or light-colored skin with freckles, blond or red hair
and blue or green eyes. You can take these steps to help avoid skin
cancer: stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., use sunscreen
with SPF 15 or higher and cover up with long sleeves and a hat.
Sunscreens form a thin film on the surface of the skin and soak up
UV rays. Put on at least 1 ounce of lotion to exposed skin every
two hours. Reapply after swimming or sweating. Even if you wear
sunscreen every day, watch for skin cancer. Let your doctor know
about new skin growths and changes to existing growths.
Source: National Institutes of Health
CHANGES IN YOUR STATUS
Outside of open enrollment, IRS regulations, under Section 125,
state you may make changes to your benefits if one of the following
situations occur:
1. Change in marital status;
2. Birth or adoption of a child;
3. Dependent reaches the age limit (Health/Dental is 26, all others 25);
4. Death of spouse and/or dependent;
5. Loss of health coverage under another plan; and
6. Change of job status which reflects the inability to maintain coverage
or have become eligible to enroll for insurance coverage;
Please note: Changes to your coverage may result in an increase or decrease of premiums.
HAS YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGED?
If your name, address or telephone number changes, did you know that
once you make these changes at Human Resources, you will also need
to stop by the Risk Management Department? Your benefits information
is based on the application we have on file. So if you request a new ID
card(s), it will get sent to the wrong address. Also, you may make any
changes to your beneficiaries during this time.
Please note: these are not qualifying events for making changes to your benefits.