2025 Benefits Annual Enrollment

Annual Enrollment is your opportunity to review your benefit elections and make changes in plans and/or eligible dependents for the upcoming 2025 plan year. All members of the State Health Plan (SHP) must take action during Annual Enrollment since all SHP members will be defaulted into the Base PPO Plan (70/30). The employee must actively enroll in the Enhanced PPO Plan (80/20) and answer the question regarding tobacco use to eliminate the $60 monthly tobacco surcharge. If you respond that you are a tobacco user, you must complete a free tobacco cessation session no later than November 30, 2024 AND attest regarding tobacco use during Annual Enrollment to eliminate the monthly surcharge for 2025. If you are not a tobacco user, simply attest to that during the Annual Enrollment period. Failure to take action will result in enrollment in the 70/30 plan and payment of the $60 monthly tobacco surcharge for the upcoming plan year. (Note that this Annual Enrollment period does not apply to Postdocs and House Officers who are not eligible for the plans involved.)

What’s New

• Aetna will become the State Health Plan’s new Third Party Administrator (TPA) on January 1, 2025 (Blue Cross Blue Shield NC is the Plan’s current TPA). Learn more about the State Health Plan Third-Party Administrator Switch to Aetna in 2025.
• Aetna Health Concierge (Customer Service): 833-690-1037
• Be sure your mailing address is current in MyPackPortal to ensure you receive updated information from the Plan.
• The State Health Plan’s benefits remain the same.
• All members must elect a PCP with Aetna.
• New hires and QLEs through November 30, 2024 will receive ID cards for BCBS for the remainder of plan year 2024 and Aetna for plan year 2025.

Online Enrollment Process

As a University employee, there are two enrollment platforms you will use when enrolling for benefits for 2025, depending upon which benefit you are enrolling in. You can link to both of the enrollment platforms via MyPack Employee Self Service. Enrollment instructions are as follows:

“My State Health Plan” (BenefitFocus)

“My UNC & NCFlex Benefits” (Empyrean)

You will need to log into this platform to enroll/make changes to your elections for: Medical (State Health Plan) To make changes, go to MyPack Portal and log in. Under the Employee Self Service tiles>Click on the “Benefit Details” tile>Click on “My State Health Plan”. You will be logged into the online benefits enrollment portal. Once you have logged into the site, select “Get Started” on the home page and follow the prompts. After you have made your choices, and they are displayed for you to review and print, you must scroll down to the bottom and click “Save Changes” or your choices will not be recorded. Don’t overlook this critical step! Be sure to save/print a copy of your Confirmation Statement to review and save for your records before logging out. You may also enroll via the BENEFITFOCUS Mobile App. (Note that the benefits enrollment portal contains SSNs, so by downloading the app, SSNs will show.) Questions? Call the eligibility and enrollment call center at 855-859-0966, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. - 10 p.m., and Saturday*, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. *Remember that AE ends on Friday, Oct. 25th.

You will need to log into this separate platform to enroll in/make changes to your elections for: UNC Life Insurance AD&D (Core or Voluntary) Voluntary Disability Cancer Critical illness Dental Vision Accident Flexible Spending Accounts TRICARE coverage To make changes, go to MyPack Portal and log in. Under the Employee Self Service tiles>Click on the “Benefit Details” tile>Click on “My UNC & NC Flex Benefits”. You will be logged into a separate enrollment portal. Once you have logged into the site, you will see a pending event (i.e., open enrollment). Click “Continue” and follow the prompts. After you have made your enrollment choices, and they are displayed for your review, you must scroll down and click “Submit My Elections.” One last pop-up message will appear and you must click “Accept” or your choices will not be recorded. Don’t overlook this critical step! Be sure to save/print a copy of your Confirmation Statement to review and save for your records before logging out. Questions? Call the Empyrean University Benefits Service Center at 833-862-1490, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., ET.

Be sure to review the webinars posted and attend an Annual Enrollment Information session detailing changes for next year. If you need help enrolling in your State-wide benefits, call 855-859-0966 or 833-862-1490 based upon the plan to enroll over the phone. Our goal is to ensure all staff and faculty complete the Annual Enrollment process correctly.

State Health Plan Updates

UNC System & NCFlex Benefit Plan Updates

NC State/UNC System Benefit Plans

Information for NC State/UNC System Benefit Plans (MetLife Legal Plan (formerly Hyatt Legal Plan), Voluntary Long Term Disability Plans)

During the September 30-October 25, 2024 Annual Enrollment period, you may make changes to your NC State/UNC System benefit plans. These include:

• MetLife Legal Plan (formerly Hyatt Legal Plan)
• Voluntary Long Term Disability Plans

Note: If you do not wish to make changes to these NC State benefit plans for 2025, there is nothing you need to do.

MetLife Legal Plan (formerly the Hyatt Legal Plan)

Review the METLIFE LEGAL webpage for plan details. To change your enrollment in these plans, follow the applicable instructions for enrollment or cancellation no later than October 25, 2024.

Long Term Disability

Review the VOLUNTARY LONG TERM DISABILITY webpage for plan details. To change your enrollment in these plans, follow the applicable instructions for enrollment or cancellation no later than October 25, 2024.

Annual Enrollment Information Sessions

Annual Enrollment presentations will be conducted in person and via Zoom. You are cordially invited to attend one of these sessions to learn about benefit plan changes and updates for 2025. The schedule and registration for each session is below. You may register for any sessions that you’d like to attend.

*Those registering for the Zoom sessions will receive a confirmation email before the event. The Zoom link will be included in the confirmation email.

Date	Time	Location	Registration Link
Tuesday, Sept. 17	3-5 pm	BTEC, 850 Oval Drive, Lecture Hall (State Health Plan in person presentation)
Wednesday, Sept. 25	9:30 - 11am	Jordan Hall, Room 1216
Thursday, Sept. 26	2-3 pm	Zoom Session*
Tuesday, Oct. 1	8:30 - 10am	Jordan Hall, Room 1220 (en Espanol)
Friday, Oct. 4	8:30 - 10am	Jordan Hall, Room 1216 (en Francais)
Wednesday, Oct. 9	10-11 am	Zoom Session*
Friday, Oct. 18	3-5 pm	Talley Coastal Ballroom (State Health Plan in person presentation)

If you cannot attend a session at NC State, you may attend one of the sessions sponsored by the State Health Plan (see flyer linked below) or listen to the recorded webinar (see link below) which requires registration before access is granted.

State Health Plan Outreach Events Flyer
Register for the recorded webinar

Annual Enrollment Tips

• Review information carefully.
• Take time to plan for the upcoming year.
• Remember to re-enroll in FSAs for the upcoming year!
• Don’t wait until the last minute!
• Review, add and/or update beneficiaries in the enrollment portal for applicable plans.
• All enrollments must be completed online and submitted no later than October 25, 2024
• For online enrollment, don’t forget to SAVE!  Once you submit your election during the Annual Enrollment period, you may not make changes.
• Print/save confirmation statement from BOTH online enrollment platforms or record date/time of your phone enrollment or save screenshot from app enrollment.
• State Health Plan premiums are deducted in advance, so the first premium for 2025 is deducted in the December 2024 paycheck.
• Review your State Health Plan premium deduction in December 2024 for accuracy, compare what was deducted to your confirmation statement and contact Benefits if you see an error.
• Review your January 2025 paycheck for accuracy of all other deductions. Compare what was deducted to your confirmation statement and contact Benefits if you see an error.